18 Days
by AliuIce0814
Summary: Pt. 2, Family Stone Chronicles: As Dante and Lulu adjust to "parenting" three kids, new horrors strike Port Charles. Will Sonny, Dante, and Jason be able to pull together to save their family, or will their differences destroy the people they love? AU
1. Trying Hard To Rearrange

This is the sequel to _Quality _and part two of the Family Stone Chronicles. If you haven't read _Quality _yet, this won't make much sense as it is AU.

* * *

"I didn't realize," Dante said through gritted teeth, "you owned—this much—_stuff_—Morgan—Stone—Corinthos!"

The aforementioned younger brother had the heart to look a little guilty as he leaned on his crutches and watched Dante and Michael drag box after box of clothes and toys into the tiny apartment. "I didn't buy any of it! It's not really my fault!"

With a groan, Michael dumped a crate of Yankees gear on the sofa. "Y'know, Dante, Morgan does have a point! Either Mom, Dad or Jax—" Suddenly, the all color drained from Michael's face. "Oh, hell. Morgan…"

The smaller boy's eyes welled with tears. Dante dropped his box and pulled Morgan into his arms. "Hey, little bro. Hey, it's okay. It's okay. I got you."

"Morgan, I'm sorry!"

"Michael, it's fine." Dante shot Michael a warning look. _This is not a good time for you to freak out on me, man. _"How about you help Lulu set up the sofa bed, right? Morgan and I need to talk."

For a moment, Michael wavered; then, with one last pained look at Morgan, he followed his cousin into the other room. Dante watched him go and then pulled Morgan onto the sofa with a sigh. The boy curled into his brother's side with a whimper. "Hey. Hey. Listen to me. It's not your fault that Jax died."

"But it is!" Morgan wailed. "I'm the one who wanted to go sailing! I made him—"

"No. No, you didn't make Jax do anything. Listen to me: Jax took you out that day because he loved you, right? You two had a lot of fun. I know—know how much you miss him, bud, but you can't blame yourself for what happened. Do you know how to drive?"

Morgan blinked up at Dante tearfully. "No…"

"Then how could you have stopped the car from crashing?" At that, Morgan bit his lip. Dante waited for the words to sink in before he continued: "Morg, I knew Jax, okay? The one thing I know for sure about him is that he loved you and your siblings. He wouldn't want you to—"

Both brothers jumped (Dante with a curse) as Dante's phone went off. The cop cursed again when he saw who was calling. "Sorry, buddy, I have to take this. –Lucky, what is it?"

_"Dante, we just got a missing persons report filed, and we need you on the search team."  
_

"Missing persons report?" Dante could feel Morgan's eyes on his back as he began to pace. "What—what happened?"

_"Well, that's what we're trying to figure out." _Lucky sighed; Dante could imagine that the other cop was pacing, too. _"See, Jason Morgan came in this morning—looked frantic. Looked terrible. Apparently, he'd been out in the woods for the past couple of days searching, but he didn't find anything…That's why he came to us."  
_

"Well—who? Who was he looking for? Sam? Carly?" _Has she totally lost her mind?  
_

As Dante spoke, Michael, Lulu, and Josslyn slipped into the room. Michael shot a questioning glance at Morgan, who shrugged helplessly. Dante shook his head at all of them as Lucky sighed and corrected:

_"No. Not Sam or Carly…Damian Spinelli…and Kristina Davis."_

"My _sister_? _My sister is missing_?" Though Dante didn't notice, everyone else in the apartment flinched; in his fury, the eldest Corinthos son looked exactly like his father. "Why the _hell_ didn't you say that in the first place? Never mind. I'll be there in five."

As Dante snapped his phone shut, Michael strode around the couch to meet him. "What happened? Where the hell's Kristina?"

Dante jerked on his jacket and shook his head at his brother. When Michael's blue eyes flashed furiously, Dante shoved him back towards Lulu. "I'm going to get down to the station and find out what's going on. There's a missing persons report out for Kristina and Spinelli," he said, more to Lulu than anyone else. His girlfriend went pale and tightened her grip on baby Josslyn.

"Who filed the report?"

"Are they together?"

"Are you going to find them?"

Dante shrugged his shoulders at Morgan, who trembled on the couch. "I hope so, bro. That's what Lucky and I are going to try to do.

"Go ahead and order pizza, Lu," he called grimly as he got in the elevator. "I don't think I'm going to be home to make dinner tonight."

* * *

Disclaimer for entire story: I am not affiliated with ABC, General Hospital, or anyone else remotely powerful in the soap world. If I were…1. Claudia would be alive. 2. Claudia and Sonny's baby would be alive. 3…


	2. Time After Time

Sonny tossed his ballpoint pen away from him with a frustrated groan and leaned as far back in his desk chair as he could without tipping over. A headache was forming right over his eyes from reading so many damn legal documents; the way the words swam before his eyes made him empathize with Stone's dyslexia even more. "Why do I have to sign all of these, Diane?" he mumbled impatiently. "Can't you just stamp them or something?"

"Why yes, in fact, I can—if you'd like to be arrested!" The lawyer's voice fairly oozed with sarcasm as she folded her arms impatiently. "Now, if you'd prefer to remain free as a bird then I'd suggest you finish signing—" Diane slammed the pen back onto Sonny's desk—"and let me be on my way to a fabulous night with my leading man."

"Uh, how about I sign these and pretend you never said that last part, deal?" Sonny flashed Diane a quick grin and sorted through the papers again. "What the hell does my signature have to do with anything, anyway?"

With an irritated sigh, Diane leaned against the desk. "Let's just say your signature is worthy quite a bit of money these days—Sonny, is that your phone?"

After a moment, Sonny cursed and leapt to his feet. "Sure is! Thanks, Diane—Hello?"

Then Sonny's heart nearly stopped in his chest. For the second time in a month, the mother of his child was sobbing into the phone.

_ "Sonny…Sonny, it's me…"_

"Alexis?" Behind Sonny, Diane frowned and leaned forward. Sonny held the phone closer to his ear. "I can barely hear you. What's—you're crying. What happened?"

For a second, Sonny wondered if Alexis might not be hyperventilating. Then, the lawyer managed to get ahold of herself enough to gasp, _"It's Kristina, Sonny. I can't find her anywhere, and neither can Molly or Nikolas or Lucky or Jason. She's gone!"_

"What? Wha—how long has she been gone, a couple of hours?"

_"No! Two days!"  
_

_"What?" _Diane scrambled backward in alarm as Sonny's grip on the back of his chair tightened dangerously. "Kristina—my daughter's been missing for two days and you haven't bothered to tell me? What the hell were you thinking, Alexis?"

Alexis was hyperventilating now; in the background, Sonny could hear a high-pitched voice pleading with her. Then, Molly's voice echoed through the phone. _"Uncle Sonny?"_

"Molly. Molly, sweetie, what happened to your sister? You got to tell me!" Sonny said urgently. Diane threw her hands in the air and pulled out her own cell phone when Sonny ignored her frantic arm-waving.

When Molly finally spoke, her voice was soft and strained. _"I don't know. I went to her room the other night to ask her if I could borrow her sweater, the purple one that I like because it's the color of royalty, and she wasn't there! Her window was open and her car was gone, so Mom and I just thought she ran off to see Michael or Johnny or Ethan like she does sometimes when she's stressed. Then she didn't come home, and Jason came over looking for the Ace of Cyberspace—"_

Sonny's face twisted furiously at the thought of his daughter out somewhere with the hacker. "Is he with her? Is Spinelli with her?"

_"I don't know! I don't know where she is! They—Jason, I mean—he went to the police station and filed a missing persons report so the police would help him search, but no one really knows what to do! She didn't even take her cell phone with her!"_

"Dammit!—not you, sweetie," Sonny amended quickly. "Listen, Molly, I'm coming over now, okay?"

Molly sniffled. _"Okay…please hurry. Mom needs you. I need you!"  
_

"Shh. All right. All right. I'll be there in a little bit, right? Love you. Bye.—_Goddamn! Damn, damn, damn_!"

"Sonny!"

Sonny slammed his fist into the wall and gasped when the plaster sliced through his fingers. Then, shakily, he dropped his phone onto the desk and collapsed into the chair with his head in his hands. _God, not Kristina. Not my little girl. Not my girl. Not my girl! Stone, why didn't you warn me, dammit? Why didn't you warn me this was going to happen?_

"Sonny?"

"Boss?"

Sonny's head snapped up. Max and Diane were watching him worriedly. With a groan, Sonny jumped to his feet again and pulled on his suit coat. "C'mon. Kristina's missing! We got to get to Alexis's."

As Max headed out to get the limo, Diane caught Sonny by the wrists. The lawyer's eyes burned with a fire that Sonny had only seen once before, when she had faced down Clare Walsh in a courtroom. "You listen to me, Sonny Corinthos, and you listen as well as that one-track mind of yours will let you. I know you're worried about Kristina, but this isn't Alexis's fault. If you hurt my friend," Diane shook one manicured nail at him threateningly, "I will make you pay. Do you understand me?"

With a snort, Sonny jerked out of Diane's grasp and hurried to the front gate. "Only person I'm planning on hurting," he snarled as he threw open the door to the limo and climbed in, "is the person who took my daughter away from me."

_"Alexis? What's up?"_

_ "You need to get to the ER. Kristina's been beat up again."_

"We're here, boss."

Max's quiet voice jolted Sonny back to reality. The mob boss stared out the window towards Alexis's house for a moment. Then, even through the bulletproof glass, he could hear the front door slamming open as Molly barreled toward the limo.

Sonny quickly opened the door and began, "Hey, Molly—"

"_Daddy_!"

It was only after Molly had flung her arms around Sonny's neck and clung to him for a full minute that she seemed to realize her mistake. Quickly, she pulled back and scrubbed at her tearstained face. "Uncle Sonny, I—I'm scared."

_So'm I, baby girl. _"Hey, hey." Sonny caught both of Molly's slender hands in his own bigger ones; then, before the girl could protest, he swung her onto his back and stood up. As he did, his gaze caught the line of cars and police cruisers that already circled the house. "Who else is here?"

Molly tightened her grip on Sonny's shoulders as he began to walk to the front door. "Sam, Mac, Robin and Emma, Diane, Nikolas and Spencer, Elizabeth and Cameron and Jake and Buzz—I mean, Aiden…Uncle Sonny, I'm so sorry."

With a frown, Sonny pulled Molly off his back and set her gently on the front stoop. When he crouched in front of her, his niece stubbornly avoided his gaze. "What? Molly, nobody's blaming you for what's happening to Kristina, right? You're safe. We got you; nobody's going to hurt you, and now we're going to find your sister and bring her back."

"I know." Molly bit her lip as if to hold back an errant thought. When she finally spoke again, Sonny got the feeling that she wasn't saying what she wanted to say. "I'm…I'm sorry I called you 'Dad'. That wasn't fair to you. I just sometimes slip up because I hear Kristina talk about you so much."

At that, Sonny shook his head. "Oh, sweetie. You don't have to apologize for that! I wish I were your daddy," he added in an undertone as he pulled Molly into a hug. The warm weight on his lap reminded him of little Kristina curled in her hospital bed the first time he met her as his daughter; he had to exhale, hard, to keep the world from closing in on him. "Okay, let's go inside. Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Molly reached up and grasped Sonny's hand. He carefully pulled her to her feet and led her inside, trying to savor every moment her hand was in his. Then he caught sight of the two cops who were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the sofa and did a double take.

_Luke and me?_

"Dad!"

"_Dante_."


	3. The Hardest Thing To Do

"You know where Kristina is?"

Dante almost snapped at his father—_if I knew where my sister was, don't you think I'd be right there with her?—_but refrained when he saw the naked terror in Sonny's eyes. "We had a couple leads, but they were all dead ends." When he caught a glimpse of little Molly trailing inside after Sonny, Dante frowned thoughtfully and beckoned Sonny over. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"What's going on?" Sonny asked urgently as he squeezed in beside Dante on the already overcrowded couch; Dante winced as he fell into Lucky, who nearly toppled over onto Nikolas and instantly sprang to his feet.

"Hang on, Sonny. Let's get out of this room. Too many people who shouldn't be in the same house together, let alone the same couch."

"Yeah, you got a point," Sonny mumbled. "C'mon, the kitchen's this way."

When both of them squeezed into the tiny kitchen next to the microwave and a bag of Cheetos, Dante groaned and ran a hand through his hair. Sonny frowned worriedly. "What's up, Dante?"

_Other than the fact that my sister's missing? _"Did you just talk to Molly?"

Sonny's frown deepened. "Yeah, she's having a real hard time right now. I think she's been blaming herself for Kristina disappearing. I tried to talk her out of it, but I don't know how much I really helped."

"Did Molly say anything else?"

"Not much. She accidentally called me 'Dad', but I doubt you're worried about that. What? You think Molly knows something about Kristina disappearing?" Dante's expression must have given him away; Sonny ran a hand through his hair with a long sigh. "Wouldn't she have already told you or Lucky? I mean, the cops talked with her, right?"

"She's hiding something."

Sonny snorted. "You serious? Molly wouldn't lie about something this important. C'mon, Dante, Kristina's Molly's sister! Molly'll do whatever to get her back!"

"Of course she will! That's not what I'm saying!" Dante's frustration mounted at his father's mulish expression. "What if Kristina asked Molly to lie? She's done it before, remember? Johnny? The car bomb? Sound familiar?"

"Yeah, and Kristina almost died! Molly wouldn't pull something like that again!"

"You don't know that!" Dante growled. "What about the first time I met Morgan? He was running around the woods without anybody knowing all because Michael asked him to keep a secret! If Michael hadn't told Carly about the shortcut through the woods, they might never have found him, especially if Morgan had run into something scarier than me! Molly knows something!"

With visible effort, Sonny unclenched his fists. "I know you're worried about your sister, Dante, but that doesn't mean that you should blame Molly—"

"Dad, don't be an idiot! This has nothing to do with blaming anybody!" Dante instinctively jumped out of Sonny's way as the older man's eyes flashed dangerously. "I'm not a detective for nothing, right? I know what I'm doing! You said that Molly blames herself for what happened to Kristina. Now, from what I know of Molly, she's a pretty logical kid. She's not going to blame herself for something she has no connection with!"

"Kristina's her sister—"

"—and Molly would keep her secret to the grave!" Finally, Dante could see Sonny's rage fading; his own fury drained from his veins as he continued more quietly, "Dad, listen to me. I'd do anything to get Kristina back—anything—but I can't waste time chasing after false leads. Is there anything that Molly's said to you—not just tonight, other times, too—about Kristina that you thought was fishy?"

Slowly, Sonny sank back against the kitchen counter with his head in his hands. For several long, silent moments, the older man stood there with his brow furrowed. Dante could almost hear the cogs whirring in his father's head. "Well…there was one time…when Morgan was in the—in the hospital, and I took Molly out of his room to talk to her, calm her down, right? She said something…" Sonny shook his head violently. "I don't remember exactly what it was. It sort of bothered me, but then Morgan flat-lined and came back and—well, I just totally forgot to ask her about it in the end."  
Dante rubbed his forehead. "Well, what'd Molly say?"

After a moment, Sonny lifted his head out of his hands and met his eldest son's gaze. "We were talking about when Michael was in his coma, about how Kristina acted. Molly said something about Kristina worrying herself sick, and then she said…something about Kristina starting to do something else, but Molly never finished the sentence. I kind of let it slide, y'know, because everything was so messed up, and I didn't want to hurt Molly when Morgan was sick. Still—I guess you're right, Dante," Sonny admitted reluctantly. "Molly knows something that nobody else does. I wonder what Kristina…"

_Kristina started to do something else? That's helpful. _Dante closed his eyes for an instant to clear his head of thoughts of drinking, gangs, and a thousand other terrible things Molly might have meant. "Well, we're going to find out. We're going to find out right now."

"Be careful," Sonny warned as they headed back to the living room. "Alexis is going to be real fragile right now. She might not want you to—"

"I'm getting Kristina back," Dante interrupted. "That should be good enough for her."

Everyone in the living room fell silent when Dante and Sonny re-entered, a surprising feat for fourteen people. Mac's jaw popped when he saw the two of them together; Dante instinctively stood straighter and met his boss's gaze defiantly. After a minute, Mac looked back at Alexis again and wrapped a comforting arm around her. Dante sighed and crouched in front of Molly, whose dark eyes widened. "What is it, Dante?"

Dante winced as he admitted, "I need to talk to you again, Moll." When Mac and Alexis both tried to protest, Dante gritted his teeth but kept his gaze fixed on Molly's. "I know you want Kristina to be safe, and I know you don't want her to get in trouble, but right now, she'll be in more trouble if you don't tell the truth, all right? Now, I need you to—"

"Molly is telling the truth!" Alexis protested. "She wouldn't lie about—"

"Molly, you remember the car bomb, don't you?" Dante pressed onward. As Molly's dark eyes watered and Alexis growled ominously, Sonny crouched beside Dante and took one of the girl's hands.

"Sweetie, we know you know something. I promise Kristina won't get grounded or whatever you're so scared of. She's not going to be punished, and neither will you!"

"Last time you lied to protect Kristina, she almost died, remember? If she's in any danger, or if she's doing something she shouldn't, we have to know so we can help her!"

"Please, sweetheart, c'mon. We got to know where Krissy is! You got to tell us what you know!"

"She doesn't know—" Alexis interjected angrily.

"Yes, I do!"

Molly froze for a moment, terrified by her own boldness. Then, with a whimper, she wrapped her arms around Sonny's neck and buried her face in his shirt. Sonny groaned and pulled himself onto the couch with Molly on his lap. "Hey, baby girl, it's okay. It's okay. I got you. It's okay."  
As everyone else watched in stunned silence, Molly turned her tearful gaze on Dante. "I'm sorry, Dante, I didn't mean—I just didn't want—Kristina made me promise—I didn't think—"

Dante's heart twisted. Gently, he reached out and brushed a tear away from Molly's cheek. "Hey, hey. Okay. Just tell me now, okay? I'm not mad. I'm not mad at you. Just tell me what happened."

"Okay…" Slowly, Molly rubbed the tears off her face and began shakily. "When Michael got shot, Krissy was really sad, but not just sad—mad and scared and all kinds of other things. She didn't know who to talk to, either, 'cause I was pretty little, and Mom was always at work, and Uncle Sonny—well, she didn't know how to talk to you," Molly added apologetically. After Sonny shrugged, Molly continued, "I don't think she really wanted to talk to anyone, anyway. She just wanted to—forget stuff. So she did."

_What?  
_

"The first time—" Molly exhaled shakily. "I'm so sorry, Mom," she whispered. "The first time I saw Kristina shoot up, it was after school, and she was supposed to walk me home because Mom had to work late. Krissy didn't show up, though, so I went to find her, and I did find her. You know the—the viaduct under Harbor Bridge? She was hanging out with some other kids there, and they had these—these needles, and Kristina was shooting up."

Dante almost couldn't swallow. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Molly whispered miserably. "I ran all the way back to school. Krissy came and picked me up later, and I pretended I had been waiting there the whole time. She told me she was at Spanish Club, studying, so when Mom asked why we were late, that's what I said. I kind of—well, when I pretended I hadn't seen anything, I sort of started to believe it, so I almost forgot about what happened. But then—

"Then Krissy had a party when Mom was away on business. I don't know how she got rid of the babysitter, but I woke up at—well, either really late or really early—and I smelled something funny. All the people from the party were already gone, but there was stuff everywhere."

"Stuff?"

Molly shrugged uncomfortably. "Party stuff, you know. Beer cans, cigarettes, random trash. I didn't know what was going on, so I went in Krissy's room and—she was—shooting up again.

"I asked what she was doing, and she said she was taking medicine, but I knew it wasn't, so I went on the computer and looked up drugs and needles. Kristina got really angry when I came back in and showed her all the pages I printed off about heroin. I got mad, too. I mean, Kristina's the big sister. She should be more responsible, and I was scared that she would die! There's all kinds of terrible things you can get from using needles, like hepatitis or AIDS!" Sonny paled, but Molly seemed not to notice. "I didn't want that to happen to her. She's my sister.

"You know what? Kristina listened! I mean, she kept using other things, like—what's that nasty crap—sorry, Mom—nasty crap you smoke? Anyway, I knew she did that, but she stopped shooting up. You remember the long weekend you went on a business trip with Diane, Mom? Kristina stopped then so that you wouldn't notice when she got sick from with—with—withdrawal. By the time you came back, she was off the needles, and she stayed off for ages! Ages and ages, all the way up to when—when—"

Molly sputtered to a stop. Suddenly, her elfin features were transformed by a terrible fury. "I know I shouldn't say this, because it's really bad, but if Kiefer weren't already dead, I might have to ask Jason to make him disappear. As soon as he died, do you know what Krissy started doing again? I've found so many needles in her room lately. It's just crazy! I don't know how he does it, but somehow Kiefer still controls Kristina even though he's dead! It's not fair! And—and—no matter how many times I yell at her now, Kristina just won't listen."

Dante felt incredibly close to being sick. From the other adult's pale visages, Dante guessed they did, too. "So Kristina's—using, right? Why did she leave?"

For a long moment, Molly chewed her lip. "She—She and Damian buy from the same guy, I think."

"Damian?"

"Spinelli, yeah. Uncle Sonny, don't!" Molly cried softly, for Sonny's face had suddenly been distorted by rage. "No, no, let me finish! Damian doesn't shoot up. He uses weed, I think. The happy flower? Yeah, weed. He saw Kristina buying heroin off that guy the other night, I guess, and he followed her home and sort of confronted her about it. She wouldn't listen to him, either; she said that if he uses something, she can, too. Boy, Damian was furious. He said that just because he was a—a loser didn't mean Kristina should waste her life.

"Well, couple of night ago, Damian showed up and waited for Kristina and Mom to come home. Well, Mom came home, but Kristina didn't; Mom said that Krissy was at _Spanish Club_," Molly spat furiously. "Damian obviously knew what that really meant, so he ran off, and I guess he must have run after Kristina to find her, but now both of them are gone! I don't know what happened, Dante, I really don't! I think whoever sells all that crap—sorry, Mom—crap to Damian and Krissy must have gotten mad at them! Damian would never hurt Krissy! He was trying to help her! I promise he's good! Krissy's good, too! They're just sick, they don't know how to stop, please don't get mad at them, please, please, please—"

Sonny began to carefully hush Molly, but Dante stopped listened. With a rush, all the blood went to his head and pounded in his ears. _Shooting up, Kristina, heroin, using, God, why, dammit! _

The wall crunched satisfyingly beneath Dante's clenched fist. The sudden pain in his crumpled hand cleared his head just as the front door banged open.

"Where's Kristina? Where's my niece?"

"Daddy _Ric_?"


	4. Days Fade To Night

Sonny's heart stopped when Ric stepped through the front door; when it restarted, it sent all the blood to color Sonny's cheeks with an angry flush. Instantly, he sprang to his feet with his ears ringing. "What the hell are you doing here, Ric?"

Ric glared back at him as he kicked the door shut. "Kristina's more than just my niece—or are you forgetting that she used to call me 'daddy', too? When I heard the Amber Alert for her on the radio all the way in L.A., I had to come here to see why no one had called me to say she was missing. I'm going to help look for her."

"It'll be a cold day in hell, Ric—"

"Dad, wait." When Sonny tried to step closer to Ric, Dante caught him by the elbow and pulled him back, murmuring, "Maybe he can help. Wasn't he the D.A. or something?"

"You don't get it!" Sonny hissed back desperately. "Ric hates me and anybody connected to me! I wouldn't trust him with my worst enemy, let alone my daughter!"

"Well, I could say the same thing about you, but I'm willing to lay aside our differences to help my sister!" The truth in Dante's words made Sonny flinch. His son noticed and shrugged apologetically. "Listen, I want my sister back. If Ric wants to help find Kristina, then I say we let him."

"It isn't exactly your decision, though, is it, Dominic—oh, I'm sorry, _Detective Falconeri_." Both Sonny and Dante whirled to face Ric as he advanced on them with a smirk. "I know your idea of morality may be a bit different from mine, since you see no problem with calling Sonny your father even though you should arrest him instead. However, I will cooperate fully with the police in order to find Kristina."

The blood pounding in Sonny's ears grew louder and louder as his temper rose. "Why are you even here, Ric? The way I remember it, you abandoned Kristina a long time ago."

"What, the way our mother abandoned me?"

_You bastard—_

"Dad!"

"Ric!"

"Sonny, don't—"

"Stop it! Just stop it!"

When the red rage blinding him finally subsided, Sonny saw the strangest scene of Alexis pinning Ric's hands behind his back, Mac trying to pull Alexis away, Dante frozen in the act of punching Ric in the gut, and Robin and Molly standing in the no-man's land in between with their arms outstretched like referees. Dead silence reigned as Sonny tried to work out why Ric had a bloody nose. _Did I hit him? What happened?  
_

The tiniest of sniffs caught everyone's attention. Molly let her arms drop as her shoulders began to shake; Sonny, Ric, Alexis, Mac, and Dante all tried to go to her, but Robin warned them back with a stormy glare and wrapped her arms around Molly's shoulders. "Stop it," the girl whispered again. "This isn't helping Kristina and Spinelli!"

His niece's voice made the rest of Sonny's rage drain away. Slowly, he staggered backward onto the couch with his head in his hands. The cushion sank down beside him as Dante collapsed there a moment later. "God. Molly, I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"

"Can we just find them now?" When no one answered, Molly groaned in frustration. The sound made Sonny lift his head to watch her as she began to pace. All the other adults seemed to be watching her, too. _Molly's the only one of us who knows what to do, _Sonny realized in alarm. _God, this is so messed up! _

"Unc—_Daddy_ Sonny?"

The new form of address stunned Sonny even further. From Alexis' gasp and Ric's thunderous expression, Sonny guessed he wasn't the only one in shock. Carefully, he slid off the couch and crouched in front of Molly. "What is it, sweetheart?" he murmured. _She called me 'daddy'. Molly called me 'daddy.'_

"Do you have any way to get in contact with Jason even if he doesn't have his cell phone on?"

"No," Sonny admitted reluctantly. "Usually, I can catch on his cell, and if I can't, I call—"

"Who?" Molly pressed urgently. "Daddy Sonny, we have to find Kristina! Whoever it is you usually have call Jason, just get them to do it!"

Even before Molly finished speaking, Sonny shook his head. A strange, dull ache spread outward from his heart while he admitted, "I can't, baby girl. I can't. The only person I know who could find Jason is Sam, and she's already here."

"I'm sorry," Sam called from where she had both arms wrapped around her mother's shoulders. "I looked for Jason already, and I did find him, but that's when he told me that Kristina and Spinelli were missing and that I should call the police."

Molly bit her lip. "Where did you find him?"

"Out in the woods about three miles from here."

Mac's head jerked up. "Could you take us there? Maybe we'll pick up on a lead."

Instantaneously, Sam jumped to her feet. "Of course I can. Let's go. Who's coming?"

_"I am!"_

Everyone in the room froze as they all spoke simultaneously. Then the room went into an uproar when everyone tried to speak at once again.

"Robin, you need to stay with Emma!"

"No, I need to find Kristina!"

"Elizabeth, you should really stay here."

"Nikolas, I—"

"Elizabeth, Nikolas, both of you should stay here. I don't want you in the middle of this!"

"Alexis, stay here. You can't handle this!"

"No, what I can't handle is my daughter being kidnapped! Let me go, Mac!"

"I should come. She's my sister!"

"No, Molly, _absolutely_ not!"

"Listen to your mother, Molly."

"No, I won't!" Molly whirled on Ric with a ferocious growl. "Maybe you don't get it since your brother hates you, but my sisters are everything to me! I'm not going to let Krissy die! I can't! I have to find her, Daddy Ric! I have to!"

For once, Sonny agreed with Ric when the other man shook his head. "Molly, sweetheart, your parents are right. This is going to be too dangerous for you."  
Molly's dark eyes widened with betrayal. "But Daddy Sonny—"

"No buts!"

"It's dangerous for Krissy and Spinelli, too!"

Sonny barely suppressed a groan as he faced down Molly's furious gaze. "Molly, you got to understand something. Krissy's already missing. Your mom, me, your…your Daddy Ric, we don't want to lose you, too. Now, we're going to do the best we can to find her—"

"And Spinelli!" Molly interjected hotly.

"And Spinelli," Sonny conceded, "but you got to help us out by staying here and not getting in the way."

Slowly, Molly's eyes filled with more tears. Sonny's heart almost broke at the sight; carefully, he reached out and pulled his niece into his arms. "I can't stand not knowing, Daddy Sonny. I can't stand not knowing what's going on! What if you or Dante or Sam or Daddy Ric get hurt while you're out there and nobody here knows? What if something terrible happens because I don't know what's going on?"

This time, Sonny did groan. "Molly…"

"Wait."

When Sam touched Molly's shoulder, the girl jumped in Sonny's arms and glanced up at her older sister with a sniffle. Sam looked torn for a moment; then, reluctantly, she whispered something in Molly's ear. Despite his best efforts, Sonny couldn't catch more than "present" and "upstairs" in the hissed conversation. _What the…_

Molly evidently understood what Sam said, though. As soon as Sam finished speaking, the younger girl's eyes brightened. She wriggled out of Sonny's grip and grabbed his hand instead. "That's perfect, Sam!"

"What's perfect?" Dante asked with a frown. "Molly?"

The girl was already halfway up the stairs, though, dragging Sonny along behind her as she weaved through the hallway to her room. It sounded to Sonny as though everyone else followed them, but he didn't want to turn to check and run into anything. When they reached a door at the end of the hall, Molly dropped Sonny's hand and darted into the room without bothering to turn on the light. "I know they're here somewhere. One second."

Alexis weaved her way to the front of the crowd and poked her head inside Molly's room cautiously. "You know what's in there, Molly? Your room is so messy; I don't know how you could find anything in there."

"Believe me, Mom, I can," Molly called. Her voice was muffled, as if her head was stuck in a giant bubble. Something fell to the ground with a crash; all the adults winced, but Molly made a jubilant noise and darted back out of the room triumphantly. "Got them!"

"Got what, exactly?"

Molly shot Sonny a patronizing look. "Don't you know what these are?"

Four strange objects lay in her palms. At first, Sonny thought they were earplugs, but at a second glance he realized they were made of metal and plastic. Dante moved closer to get a better look. "They almost look like little tiny sub-woofers or something," he muttered under his breath.

"They're nano-walkie talkies," Molly corrected. "Spinelli got them for me for my birthday after I saw Jason and him wearing something like this and asked about it. You put them in your ear, just like an earplug, and you can hear what the other person says." As she spoke, she carefully fitted one in her ear and then held the others out toward the crowd. "I have the master control, so I'll be able to talk to everyone. This way I'll sort of be your conscience, just like Jiminy Cricket. Who wants the other ones?"

Sonny wavered for a split-second before he picked one up and fitted it in his ear. Dante did the same; then, after a moment's hesitation, Ric picked up the last one and handed it to Lucky. "I'll stay here with Molly and Alexis," Ric murmured. "I'll be making sure you don't try to sneak out, young lady."

Dante chuckled when both Molly and Alexis mumbled, "All right!", but Sonny couldn't bring himself to laugh. _How long have I been here? One hour? Two? We're wasting time! _

Sam caught Sonny's wild-eyed look and nodded infinitesimally. "C'mon, everybody. Let's move. We're wasting time that Kristina and Spinelli don't have!"

"Be careful!" Alexis caught both Sam and Sonny in a desperate hold. "I can't lose any one of you, but if I lost all of you...if I lost all...if..."

"Breathe, Alexis," Sonny ordered. "Ric, make her calm down! Sam, we got to go now..."

Slowly, Sam nodded. "I know. I just hate to leave her like this!"

"Well, we're bringing Kristina back, right? We're bringing Krissy back. That's all that matters."

It was a short run from the house to Sam's SUV, but the distance seemed huge to Sonny. He barely managed to squeeze into the seat next to Dante's before Sam jammed the key into the ignition and peeled out into traffic. Ordinarily, Sonny would have winced at the woman's reckless driving, but he ignored it tonight as he picked up his mantra of _Kristina, Kristina, God let her be okay, Hail Mary full of grace Stone why didn't you warn me? Kristina…_

The night sky was an inky black, so Sonny could barely make out Dante's outline. His oldest son's jaw was set furiously; not for the first time, Sonny recognized himself in Dante's headstrong expression. "If anyone can find Kristina, it'll be you."

"I hope so." Dante turned his head away to look out the window. "I have to find her, Sonny. I can't lose my sister."

"You won't."

Dante balled his hands into fists compulsively. "I can't—"

Suddenly, Dante froze. As Sonny watched in confusion, his eldest son tilted his head to one side with a frown and then almost smiled. "What…"

"I just told him that you were right, Daddy." Sonny jumped when Molly's voice spoke directly in his ear, as if she were sitting beside him in the darkness. "Did you forget I was here? I told you, I'll be your conscience, like Jiminy Cricket. That's what Spinelli would say. I'm going to stay here with you while you find Krissy and the Jackal. At least I'll be with you somehow!"

"You really like him, don't you?" Sonny muttered. _Man, it feels weird to be talking to myself. _"Spinelli, I mean. What do see in the guy?"

The tiny speaker made a squeaking noise while Molly sighed petulantly. "You make that sound creepy, Daddy Sonny. Listen, I can't explain why Spinelli's so awesome. It's just something that you have to figure out for yourself! Maybe you just haven't listened to him enough."

Sonny struggled not to snort at the idea of willingly subjecting himself to Spinelli's painfully convoluted speech pattern. "Oh, believe me, I listen enough—"

"This is it," Sam called sharply from the front seat. "This is where I left Jason. Everybody grab a flashlight and get out."

"We're here," Dante and Sonny both whispered to Molly. Sonny fumbled with the flashlight for a moment before he managed to turn it on. Then he climbed out of the SUV onto the springy moss of the forest. "Somehow, Sam managed to drive us right into the woods," Sonny narrated quietly for Molly. "I—"

When something metallic hit Sonny's hand, the mob boss jumped and instinctively closed his fingers—around the cool handle of a gun. Lucky nodded at him and let go of his end of the pistol. "Take it. I get the feeling we're all going to need one before this is over."

Sonny flinched and glanced back at Dante. A trace of fear played around his son's dark eyes, just like—

_"Goodbye, detective."_

_ "My God, Sonny! You just shot your own son!"_

"C'mon, Dad. Let's go." Once again, Sonny flinched as Dante shouldered his way past him roughly. "Let's go find Kristina."


	5. I Don't Want To Have To Be Here

A/N: Yes, it's been a hell of a long time since I've worked on this story. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa! If you're intensely curious as to where I've been for the past five months and one week, ask and I'll tell you the abridged version in a PM.

* * *

"Sorry, man," Lucky said to Dante quietly as they trudged through the forest behind Sam. "I know I sparked up some bad memories there with Sonny."

Surreptitiously, Dante glanced back at his father, who trailed behind the rest of the rescue party, lost in thought. When moonlight illuminated the metal in Sonny's hand, Dante shivered and rubbed the spot on his chest where the bullet had gone in months ago. "Don't worry about it," Dante muttered to Lucky. "I got to get over this sometime. Anyway…" he tore his gaze away from his father and looked ahead again, "Kristina's worth it."

"Good man!" a tiny voice whispered in Dante's ear. Dante grimaced and fought the urge to rid himself of the miniscule device that allowed Molly to pipe her every thought directly into his ear. "It'll be so nice when Kristina's back now that you and Daddy Sonny aren't fighting."

Dante grunted. "Yeah, we'll see." When Lucky shot him a bemused look, Dante flushed. "Molly," he mouthed.

Lucky's eyes widened with understanding. "Oh," he mouthed back, grinning, before the gravity of the situation hit him again and his gaze turned stormy. Dante rubbed his head and glanced back at Sonny's dejected form again before marching onward in Sam's footsteps.

Suddenly, Sam and Lucky both froze. After a moment of squinting through the darkness, Dante saw what startled them: an inky black figure strode toward them. Simultaneously, the four rescuers clicked their guns off safety. "Who's there?" Sam called. "Jason?"

"Yeah." Instantly, Sam lowered her gun and ran the last four feet to Jason, who pulled her into a one-armed hug. Sonny, too, put his gun away, but it took the two cops longer to lower their guard. Dante was the last to reluctantly lower his weapon as Jason stepped into the light.

Behind Dante, Sonny shuffled his feet impatiently. "Jason, where's Krissy?"

Jason's expression, as usual, was unreadable. "I found the drug dealer's hideout a half-mile from here."

"Where?"

"Underground."

"_Under_—"

"Smart of them, really," Lucky muttered. "There's a lot of Cold War-era bunkers out here that have been abandoned for years. The PCPD hardly ever patrols out this way—nothing ever happens out here, unlike out on the docks. Truth be told, Sonny, I'm surprised you haven't used any of the bunkers for your business yet."

Dante snorted. _Don't tempt him. _"Guess this guy beat him to it. How do we get into the bunkers?"

Jason shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to figure out. Spinelli's usually the one—" Jason broke off and shrugged. "All the entrances are well-hidden."

"That was the idea. Keep out the Commies." Lucky rubbed his head thoughtfully. "When we were younger, Emily, Nikolas, Elizabeth, and I used to run around here all the time. It didn't take us long to find the bunkers. They were the perfect hideouts. We figured out that they all had roughly the same design—people didn't care what their bomb shelters looked like as long as they were saved from incineration. Each bunker had two entrances: one in the front and a second somewhere along the left side that led to a tunnel that stretched the length of the bunker."

For a moment, everyone stared at Lucky in stunned silence. A high-pitched whistle filled Dante's ear; judging by Sam and Sonny's flinches, Molly had done the same to them. "Lucky's probably one of the only people to know about the second entrance. According to this history website I'm on right now, only the front entrances were mentioned in advertisements for the bunkers. The tunnel to the second door was meant to be an escape route in case the Soviets had a ground invasion, so the people selling the bunkers only revealed them to people once they bought the bunker. It's supposed to be really tricky to find the second entrance."

"So whoever caught Kristina might not know about the tunnel?" When Lucky and Jason stared at Sam in confusion, she elaborated, "Molly's talking. Did you catch that, Sonny, Dante?"

"How would you not notice a tunnel in your bunker?" Sonny shook his head. "Sounds obvious."

"It isn't." Lucky smiled wryly. "We used the bunkers for a year before Emily found the tunnels."

Briefly, Sonny smiled back, and even Jason's eyes glittered. At another time, Dante would have asked _Who the hell is Emily? _Instead, he tightened his grip on his pistol. "Let's go. We're wasting Kristina's time."

"And Spinelli's." Jason turned toward the depths of the forest again. "Hurry."

The trees over the forest path grew closer and closer together until the darkness was nearly intolerable. Even Molly remained uncharacteristically quiet while the adults trekked silently through the woods. Dante could feel Sonny breathing down his neck. In the smothering darkness, he thought he understood his father's claustrophobia for once. _Kristina shot up…she could be going through withdrawal, that's bad enough, but what if they find out she's Sonny's kid? He doesn't like drugs going through his territory. The dealers might have a vendetta—_

A tap on his shoulder jolted Dante out of his dark musings. Lucky caught his gaze and then jerked his head toward a large, formless shadow a few yards away. "Showtime."

"Now, remember," Molly's anxious voice whispered in Dante's ear. "The secret entrance should be on the left of the bunker. Vents in the tunnel lead down into separate rooms. Be careful, everyone, okay? Keep your guns loaded."

Sonny, Sam, and Dante each groaned quietly. "Don't say that again, baby girl," Sonny mumbled. "Ever."

"What, surprised the mob's influenced her?" Dante murmured.

Jason shot all of them a dark look. "Lucky, how do we get in?"

Lucky carefully crouched by the side of the bunker with his pistol at the ready. "Hang on, man, I'm figuring that out—here!" Slowly, he worked his fingers around a latch and gingerly pried a door open. The resounding creak made Jason's visage grow stormier and Dante's stomach twist uncomfortably. "Ready?"

"Wait," Sam hissed. "Someone should stay behind in case we need to call for backup or an ambulance."

"You stay, I'll go," Jason said quietly. When Sam opened her mouth to protest, he covered her mouth with his hand. "Don't. I don't want you hurt, too."

"Krissy—"

"We'll get her, Sam. Don't worry," Lucky called softly.

Sonny nodded. "Jason's right."

Sam shot all three of them dark looks. "I can fight. I'm not a shrinking violet. My sister and my P.I. partner are both in there!"

"And whoever caught them might be able to overpower the four of us guys, too," Dante interjected. "If we don't come out of there, we'll need you to come get us, all right, Sam?" When Sam still glared at the men stonily, Dante threw his hands in the air. "We're wasting time fighting. I'm going in."

Before Dante could climb through the bunker door, Jason disappeared into the dark chasm. Lucky slipped in after him, and, after giving Sam one last warning glance, Sonny followed suit. Dante was the last to go through the bunker door; the last thing he saw before the door shut and he was plunged into total darkness was Sam's brooding expression. "She'll never stay put."

"Lucky and Jason and Daddy all had to try to keep Sam safe. They've all slept with her."

Dante blinked. "I did not know that…"

"Yeah," Molly said matter-of-factly. "It's true. What can you see?"

"Nothing," Dante whispered. "Not yet. We're in the tunnel."

The click-click of a computer keyboard filled Dante's ear for a moment. "Okay, in a few feet you should find a vent—"

"Oomph!"

"Damn!"

Dante reached forward just in time to catch Sonny by the shoulder and pull him back from the edge of an open vent. Sonny growled something in Spanish and tightened his vise-like grip on his son's arm. "Jason? Lucky?"

"There's a drop."

As Sonny cussed in Spanish again, Dante disentangled himself from his father's grip and laughed shakily. "I think we found the vent, Moll."

"Great! Are you in the room yet?"

"How far's the drop, Jason?" Sonny asked quietly. "Jason?"

"About four feet," Lucky called back. "Man, you guys better get down here."

The strained note in Lucky's voice spurred Dante on. Without thinking, he gave Sonny a shove between the shoulder blades and then jumped down the hole after him.

The drop wasn't nearly as long as Dante expected. He managed to land on his feet like a cat and then carefully straightened up to survey his surroundings. Lucky had thrown caution to the wind and turned on his flashlight; Dante almost asked why before he heard a wheezing sound and turned to see Jason propping a blood-soaked Spinelli upright.

Instantly, Dante darted over to Spinelli and crouched beside him. "Spinelli, what happened? Where's Kristina?"

Spinelli shakily tried to wipe the blood out of his eyes and nearly collapsed to the floor of the bunker again. "The—the Jackal tried to subvert the—the evil-doers of darkness from kidnapping the Goddess-in-Training, but they were far too intent on making her pay for the sins of her father! Despite the Jackal's best efforts, he could not prevent the evil ones from smuggling the Young Goddess away!"

Slowly, Dante's mind wrapped around Spinelli's words. "You tried to stop the drug dealers from taking Kristina?"

"Where the hell is my daughter?" Sonny demanded.

Spinelli flinched at the sound of Sonny's voice, and his voice wavered as he continued, "Alas, Mr. Sir, the denizens of darkness, the purveyors of the happy flower and other not-so-delectable mind-altering concoctions, chose to try to harm the Goddess-in-Training when she could not pay them for their products! When she attempted to use Mr. Sir's name to sway their favor, they instead decided to take the Goddess-in-Training down the deep hole of despair!"

Lucky's eyes widened. "She's further down the tunnel."

Reluctantly, Jason relinquished his grip on Spinelli and lowered him into Dante's arms instead. Instantly, the computer hacker stiffened; Dante ignored Spinelli's frightened gaze while Lucky and Jason clambered into the tunnel again. After only a moment, Jason jumped back out and shook his head at Sonny. "It's hardly big enough for me to fit in, Sonny. My shoulders brush the walls."

"What's wrong?" Dante asked puzzedly when Sonny paled. "Jason? Dad?"

Molly gasped in Dante's ear. "Daddy Sonny's claustrophobic. If he felt trapped in the tunnel, he could have a panic attack. I'm serious, Dante. He'd break down. He's not weak! He just can't handle spaces like that. Forcing him in a tiny space like that would only make things worse."

Though Molly couldn't see him, Dante nodded slowly. "Okay, then. I'm going to lean you up against this wall, Spinelli, okay?" When the computer hacker nodded weakly, Dante gingerly propped him up against the wall and pulled himself up into the tunnel. "Stay here, Dad."

"But Kristina—"

"Dante is right, Sonny. You're not going to make it through the tunnel. Stay with Spinelli."

Sonny's eyes darkened when he glanced back at Spinelli. Dante noticed and grimaced. _If Spinelli dies—_

Suddenly, Jason grabbed Sonny by the front of his shirt and lifted him straight off the ground. Dante swallowed a gasp and stared in awe as Jason growled a steady stream of words at his boss. Jason shook with rage; Dante only caught a few words, "Spinelli" and "Michael" and "don't you dare," but he got the gist of the conversation. _I never thought I'd see Jason explode at Sonny!_

Finally, Jason lowered Sonny to the ground and jumped into the tunnel. Dante caught one last glimpse of Sonny gazing open-mouthed after them before Jason slammed the vent door shut and plunged the tunnel into utter darkness.

* * *

A/N part two: As I said, any questions I'll be happy to answer through a PM. You can expect an update every day this week. Hopefully I'll have this story finished by the end of the week, and I'll begin the third story in this five-part series.

Cheers! Have a lovely day, and I'll see you all tomorrow. –Icey.


	6. My State of Mind

"I don't give a damn what you think about Spinelli. I've protected your family, Sonny. Don't you dare hurt mine."

Jason's words rang in Sonny's ears as he stared in shock at the place where Jason and Dante had disappeared. Jason never yelled at Sonny. Never. _Well, maybe sometimes, when I deserve it, when I'm being stupid_, Sonny thought, _but not like that…_

A moan from behind him caught Sonny's attention. Spinelli struggled to climb to his feet; then, with a whimper, he collapsed back against the wall. When he coughed, blood trickled out of his mouth, and Sonny fought hard to tamp down the protective paternal emotions that rose in him.

"Daddy, is Spinelli okay?"

Sonny jumped. He'd forgotten that Molly was with him in tiny walk-talkie form. Before he could formulate a response, Spinelli coughed again, louder this time, and spit out another mouthful of blood. "Daddy, was that Spinelli? What's wrong with him? Daddy, is he okay?"

Molly's terrified voice propelled Sonny toward Spinelli. _Molly, kid, what do you see in this guy? _When he saw Sonny approaching, Spinelli flinched away but continued in his fruitless efforts to stand. Instinctively, Sonny placed a hand on the computer hacker's chest and forced him back down. "Where do you think you're going?"

"The—the Jackal—" Spinelli almost wriggled out of Sonny's grip, but Sonny tightened his hold on the flailing man. "The Jackal must go find the Half-Pint Hacker! Krissy is in grave danger! The Jackal must not—must not fail her as he did before! The Jackal must not—"

"Whoa, whoa. What do you mean, fail Kristina again?"

Spinelli shrunk back beneath Sonny's dark glare. "The Jackal implored the Goddess-in-Training not to go down the dark path of self-destruction! The Jackal knows from experience that despite the many lures of the elixirs of the denizens of darkness, not the least which being mind-numbing and past-forgetting qualities, in the end such potions only cause one pain. The Young Goddess would not listen, so the Jackal most foolishly gave up, which led to the denizens of darkness stealing away young Krissy and doing most evil things to both her and the Jackal!"

_What? _

"He's scared, Dad." Apparently, Spinelli was loud enough that Molly could hear him speaking through Sonny's walkie-talkie. The young girl's voice was soft as she continued, "Spinelli feels like it's his fault that Kristina was kidnapped. He thinks that if he'd kept on her about her shooting up, then she would have stopped and none of this would have happened. He thinks that if he had fought harder, Kristina wouldn't have been kidnapped. He's terrified of what they'll do to her."

In a whisper, Molly added, "Spinelli's afraid of you, Daddy. I know you think he talks like that all the time, but he doesn't. It's a nervous tic! I don't know how hurt he is, but he shouldn't be so wound up! I know you don't like him, Daddy, but I don't want Spinelli to die. He's good, Daddy. He's just scared of you! He thinks you're going to hurt him the way—"

"The way what?" When Molly didn't respond, Sonny looked back at Spinelli, who had gone limp with exhaustion. Once he noticed Sonny staring at him, the computer hacker stiffened and tried to squirm away again. The movement only spurred another round of coughing; Sonny felt an unexpected stab of fear when Spinelli's weak coughs produced more blood. "Hey, relax."

Sonny's words seemed to take the opposite effect. Spinelli's entire body froze, and he squeezed his eyes shut. Every few seconds, a tremor ran through him. It took Sonny a few moments to realize that the younger man was desperately fighting back tears. "Listen, I'm not going to hurt you."

"That's what they all say!" Spinelli's eyes snapped open, and he fixed Sonny with a wild, overbright stare. "I'm not going to hurt you, Damian, just stay in your room and keep quiet. I'm not going to hurt you, Damian, just clean the house exactly right. I'm not going to hurt you, Damian, just don't try to keep your mom safe when I'm yelling at her and calling her a slut! I'm not going to hurt you, Damian, I'm just going to kick you out of the house until you learn your place, and if I do hurt you, don't even think about telling CPS, or I'll hurt you so badly that you'll never wake up!" Spinelli coughed, choking on more blood, but finished savagely, "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to dump you at Granny's and let you run wild so that by the time someone tries to rescue you, you're hooked on a drug so powerful that you'll spend the rest of your life in its grip!"

Suddenly, Spinelli seemed to realize what he was saying. With a whimper, he ducked his head and feebly covered it with his bloodstained hands. "Please don't hurt me, Mr. Sir," he whispered.

For a moment, Sonny couldn't respond. Buzzing filled his ears so that even if Molly spoke to him, he couldn't hear it. Instead, he could hear dishes breaking, his mother screaming, and his younger self crying as he jumped between Mama and Deke again—

_"You shut up about my mother! You don't talk to her like that!"  
_

_"I'll talk to her however I want, Sonny boy! Get out of my way!"  
_

_"You respect my mother! You respect her!"  
_

_"You respect_ me!" _A slap to the face, a fist to the gut, the closet door slamming shut and the dark walls swallowing him as Mama screamed and screamed and screamed—_

"Spinelli, look at me." Sonny spoke without thinking. When Spinelli flinched, Sonny gentled his voice and his grip on the computer hacker's shirt. "Look at me. You're fine, man. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not just sayin' that—look at me!" Slowly, Spinelli uncovered his face and reluctantly met Sonny's gaze. Sonny flashed him a quick, grateful smile. "There you go. I'm not messin' with you. I swear I'm not going to hurt you, right? For one thing, I know what it's like to be pushed around by somebody who should be protectin' you. For another, Jason would kill me if something happened to you. Seriously!" he added when Spinelli shot him a incredulous look. "Didn't you hear him earlier?"

Quietly, Spinelli said, "The Jackal was most preoccupied with his unfortunately malady earlier."

_What the hell does—you know, I really don't care. _"Jason told me before he left, 'That kid's as important to me as Michael is.' He grabbed me by the front of my shirt, y'know, and lifted me right up, and shook me, and said, 'I don't give a damn what you think about Spinelli. I've protected your family, Sonny. Don't you dare hurt mine.'"

Spinelli stared at Sonny in awe-struck silence. Sonny took the opportunity to give Spinelli the once-over. He couldn't see any cuts or bullet wounds, but that left a more frightening explanation for Spinelli's coughing up blood. _If he's bleeding on the inside, he might not have much time. _"Did—did Stone Cold really say that?" Spinelli whispered, interrupting Sonny's train of thought.

"Yeah. Yeah, he sure did. Y'know, I took care of Jason a while back." Sonny half-smiled at Spinelli again. "He was like my little brother—is like my little brother! I guess you're like his little brother now, huh?"

At that, Spinelli's eyes lit up. "Stone Cold is like the big brother I never had. He—he puts up with my many ramblings and missteps and attempts to train me in the ways of a good man. Even though I am a loser—"

"No, you aren't. You're Freaky Boy, yeah, but you're not a loser." Sonny ruffled Spinelli's hair gently to lighten his words. "You know how much money I would have lost if you weren't doing whatever it is you do on your computer? You're a lifesaver, man."

"Alas, not literally," Spinelli mumbled. "The Goddess-in-Training—"

"—Jason and Lucky and Dante are getting her. You tried! I don't usually give credit for just trying, but…better guys than you have gotten beat up by dealers." Sonny's eyes darkened. "They'll pay, believe me. They'll disappear. You should have told Alexis and me about what Kristina was doing—"

"—but I should have, too, and I didn't!" Molly piped up.

"You hear that?" When Spinelli shook his head in the negative, Sonny said to Molly, "You want to talk to Spinelli, Molls?" Molly's excited squeak said it all. Sonny grinned and carefully tucked the tiny device in Spinelli's ear. "Somebody wants to talk to you, Spinelli."

"'Tis the Half-Pint Hacker's smaller shadow! Molly!" Spinelli cried in surprise when Molly's voice filled his ear. Sonny shook his head in amusement at the way Spinelli's entire face lit up. _He's such a little kid. How's he stay so innocent? _Then Sonny remembered Spinelli's rant. _Not innocent. Upbeat. How?  
_

Suddenly, Spinelli was paralyzed by a string of coughs. Instantly, Sonny braced him as he wretched and spat out more blood. To his horror, Spinelli's breath now came in ragged gasps. "Hey, Freaky Boy, stay with me! C'mon, Spinelli. Deep breaths. It's okay. You're going to be fine."

"I don't want…to die…like this," Spinelli panted frantically. "The Jackal…wanted…to be brave…when he died…"

"You're not dying," Sonny growled. "You hear me?" After a minute, Spinelli nodded, slowly at first, then more steadily. The blood stopped its relentless flow, and Spinelli sank to one side in exhaustion. Sonny barely managed to catch him before he hit the ground. To his surprise, Spinelli was more Morgan's weight than Michael's; for the first time, Sonny questioned whether the computer hacker was as old as he claimed to be. Spinelli's dark hair reminded Sonny of Morgan, too. It was enough for Sonny to gently wipe the blood off Spinelli's face with the edge of his sleeve and then let him lean against his shoulder. "There you go. There you go."

A squeaking noise caught Sonny's attention. "Molly." Gingerly, he pulled the tiny walkie-talkie out of Spinelli's ear and fitted it in his own again. "You okay, baby girl?"

"Spinelli, Daddy, what's wrong with Spinelli?"

Though he knew lying would anger Molly, Sonny muttered, "He's just a little beat up. He'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure." _He'd better be fine. Jason would kill me—and if Spinelli's this bad, what the hell happened to Kristina? _Sonny squeezed his eyes shut at the thought. _Stone, c'mon, keep Krissy safe! _When Spinelli coughed weakly, Sonny thought reluctantly_, Spinelli too. He's a lot like you. Kid off the streets, worthless parents, running around with the wrong people…_

BANG!

The sound made Sonny jump and Spinelli flinch. Instinctively, Sonny pulled out his gun and aimed it at the tunnel where the noise came from. Silence reigned for a moment; then another loud bang echoed through the tunnel. Sonny clicked his gun off of safety and waited with bated breath. _C'mon, c'mon, try and get me. See what way you're going to end up._

"Daddy Sonny? What was that?"

BANG—_ka-BOOM!_

"Spinelli, get _down_!"

"_Jason_!"

"Daddy, what's—Daddy? DADDY!"

Only the sound of gunfire answered Molly's cries.

* * *

Just for reference, I've decided to put a time/age chart in here. My characters are slightly different ages than the extremely SORAS-ed kids on General Hospital. The adults remain the same, but Molly and company do not.

First off, it's currently early August 2010 in this story. Second, Molly and Morgan are somewhere between ten and twelve—probably closer to ten, but a bright ten. Kristina is not quite seventeen and is going into her junior year (on GH, she would have been eighteen headed into her senior year). Michael is eighteen. Spinelli is twenty, for my own devious reasons, and Lulu, Maxie, and Dante are twenty-two or twenty-three (again, devious reasons!).


	7. All Good Things

The only thing that seemed real to Dante as he fired his gun again and again was Kristina's shivering form. Behind him, the tunnel exploded; Dante threw himself on top on Kristina and wrapped his arms around her while everything went black.

The first thing Dante heard when he awoke was Kristina's heartbeat, thumping loudly and persistently beneath his ear. Then something wet and salty landed on his face, and he gingerly pushed himself onto his hands and knees to take in Kristina's tear-stained face. "Hey, Kristina, are you okay? They didn't hurt you again?"

Instantly, Kristina shook her head. "I can't stop shivering," she whispered. "Dante, I'm scared."

"It's okay. I'm going to get you out of here." _Where's everyone else? _Dante wondered as he glanced up and down the tunnel. Other than the body of the man who had tried to kill Kristina, the dark tunnel was completely empty. Unease wormed its way into Dante's stomach. _What happened to them? _"Lucky? Jason?" After a moment's hesitation, Dante reloaded his gun and called louder, "Dad?"

Only silence filled the tunnel at first. Then, the vent scraped open—Dante clicked his gun off safety—and Sonny poked his head into the tunnel. "Dante? You okay—oh, my God, Kristina. Krissy—"

Before Sonny could drag himself into the tunnel, Dante pulled Kristina into his arms and crawled toward the vent himself. He frowned when Kristina shook harder the closer they got to Sonny; one glimpse at her revealed she was in tears. "I didn't mean to—I didn't want—I didn't—"

Suddenly, most of Kristina's weight left Dante's arms. Kristina stiffened when Sonny caught her, but he adjusted her in his arms until he cradled her like a baby and then pressed a kiss to her forehead. "There's nothing you could _ever_ do to make me love you less, baby girl. _Nothing_. I will _always_ love you, no matter _what_."

By now, Kristina could hardly speak through her sobs. "I'm sorry, Dad, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was so scared! I didn't know what to d-do and I just d-didn't want to hurt anymore! I didn't want Spinelli to get hurt, Daddy, I don't know what they did to him—"

"Yeah, where is Spinelli?" Dante barely suppressed the question _Did you take the opportunity to knock him off or something?_

Sure enough, Sonny's eyes darkened at the sound of the computer hacker's name, but when he spoke, his voice sounded concerned, not irritated. "Dante, I want you to go to Jason, okay, and help him with Spinelli. The kid…he's not doing so good," Sonny said in an undertone. "You got to help him."

The fear in Sonny's words startled Dante. _What, do you not hate Spinelli anymore or something? _"Well, I'm no doctor…" The worry filled Sonny's eyes now as he kissed Kristina's forehead again. Dante sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

Even before he reached Spinelli, Dante could hear his rattling gasps. The sound sent chills down his spine. Jason crouched in the light of Lucky's flashlight, cradling Spinelli in his arms just the way Sonny cradled Kristina in his. "Hey," Dante said quietly. "Jason?"

When Jason looked up at Dante, Dante knew he would never think of the mob enforcer as emotionless again. His face was red and raw, and his eyes were wide and blank with fear. Dante hesitated for a moment, the way he would around a wild animal, before carefully crouching beside Jason. "Spinelli needs to get out of here, Jason. He needs a doctor. Right?"

Instantly, Jason nodded and opened his mouth to speak. At first, no sound came out; then Jason choked, "Call 9-1-1."

_Words I never thought Jason Morgan would speak…_Dante reached for his cell phone, but Lucky caught his wrist and shook his head. "Ambulance is on its way, man. Sam called when she heard gunshots."

"Right. Let's move Spinelli and Kristina, then. Dad, you hear that?" When Sonny nodded, Dante turned back to Jason and the barely-conscious Spinelli. "Can you carry him?"

Jason nodded again. "I got him," he said thickly. "Let's go."

Though Sonny moved toward the exit first, he backed up at the last moment and let Jason through instead, clapping him on the back and gently ruffling Spinelli's hair as Jason brushed past him and Kristina. Then Sonny carefully adjusted his grip on Kristina so that he could escape the dark underground room. Lucky and Dante gazed around the bunker at the carnage of the gunfight before exchanging a dark look.

"We should go," Lucky said quietly.

Dante gave the bodies of the drug dealers one last glance before nodding. Together, the two cops pulled themselves out of the dank bunker and into the crisp night air.

Immediately, a million different sounds assaulted Dante's ears: Spinelli's coughs, Sam's questioning voice, a car engine running, and the rapidly approaching wail of an ambulance's siren. In what felt like seconds, Spinelli and Kristina were loaded onto the back of the ambulance and, once Sonny and Jason hopped in with them, whisked away to General Hospital. Dante blinked and nearly swayed with surprise at the sudden quiet. "God," he murmured. _Don't let anything happen to Kristina—or Spinelli. Even Sonny was worried about him._

"Come on," Sam urged Lucky and Dante after a moment. "Alexis said she would meet us at the hospital."

"Oh, God—Molly! I forgot." Dante cursed under his breath and tapped the tiny walkie-talkie in his ear. "Molly, you there?"

"She turned it off a while ago," Sam corrected.

"Yeah, but did she hear the fight?" Lucky asked worriedly.

Sam climbed into the SUV without answering. With a sigh, Dante buckled his seat belt. Every time he glanced over at Lucky during the long trip to the hospital, the other cop's eyes flickered with concern. It took Dante some time to remember that Lucky was a father as well as a police officer. _What if it was his family?_ Dante wondered. Then, when Lucky caught him staring and gave him the most reassuring look he could muster, Dante realized, _Maybe this is his family._

When Dante, Sam, and Lucky rushed into the emergency room, they nearly ran over Epiphany. The nurse rolled her eyes and caught Sam and Dante by their arms to keep them from falling. "Slow down, you all," she scolded. "I know you're worried, but that's no reason to run all over the place like you've lost your heads. You could hurt the other patients."

"Yeah, but—" Dante swallowed audibly when Epiphany crossed her arms. "I mean, yes, ma'am! We're just worried about Kristina and Spinelli and wanted to know how they're doing."

"I know you're worried. First things first, though: are any of you hurt in any way?"

The three of them exchanged glances before shaking their heads in unison. Epiphany rolled her eyes again. "Thank God for small favors. Now God help you if I find out you lied to me about that, though! You're in a hospital. If you need medical help, now's the time to ask for it." When Lucky, Sam, and Dante did not respond, Epiphany sighed and shook her head. "Fine. Damian Spinelli was just admitted to the ICU with severe internal bleeding. Dr. Hunter is prepping for surgery as we speak. Room 247," she called after Sam's retreating form.

Dante held off for one painful minute before he asked, "What about Kristina?"

Epiphany sighed. "Pass this on to Ms. McCall when you get the chance. Kristina is in Pediatric ICU right now. Although she suffered minimal injuries during her captivity, she is suffering the effects of withdrawal from heroin. Once she makes it through this, her doctor will probably assign her to therapy in order to make sure she doesn't become addicted again."

"Right now, though?"

"What do you think, Mr. Falconeri?" Before Dante could ask Epiphany what she meant, the nurse strode off to yell at a hapless intern. Lucky clapped a hand on Dante's shoulder to catch his attention.

"Listen, man. You go to Kristina. I'll tell Sam what's going on with her and then give Mac a call. There's no point in us getting fired for slacking off."

At that, Dante snorted and shook his head. "You're right. I might run into him, though; he might be with Alexis and Kristina. If he is, I'll give him the low-down on what just happened."

Lucky shrugged. "Don't worry about it. You just take care of your sister, okay?"

"Okay—hey, speaking of sisters. Think you could call yours and tell her everything's okay? I don't want Lulu to, you know…" Dante trailed off uncomfortably, and Lucky chuckled.

"What, show off her Spencer risk-taking genes? Yeah, I'll tell her. Go to Kristina."

Dante didn't need to be told again. With one last grateful "Thank you!" to Lucky, he dashed up the stairs two at a time to the pediatric ward, too afraid for his sister to bother waiting for the elevator.

By the time Dante reached the top of the stairs, he gasped for air. He only had a moment to take in the sight of not just Kristina's family, but his mother and a beautiful blonde as well, before the door to Kristina's room sprang open and Molly flew, shrieking, into Dante's arms.

"Dante, thank you, thank you for saving our sister!"

* * *

Seeing as this chapter is shorter than my usual chapters, I may post another one tonight. _May_—I haven't made up my mind yet—but I will at least begin the next one tonight and have it up earlier tomorrow. One of these days, you will for sure have a double-dose of chapters.


	8. I Don't Understand It Now

DOUBLE CHAPTER!

Part One: Sonny

Sonny hesitated in the doorway of Kristina's hospital room, torn between following Molly to Dante and staying by Kristina's side. When he glanced back at Kristina, though, Alexis had her arms wrapped around Kristina in a futile attempt to absorb Kristina's pain. Sonny realized he was intruding, so, after placing a gentle kiss on Kristina's feverish forehead, he slipped out into the hall and shut the door behind him.

As soon as she saw him, Molly darted back to Sonny without loosening her grip on Dante's hand. Sonny's eldest child had no choice but to come along while Molly wrapped her arms around Sonny's waist—still clutching Dante's hand in her own. Sonny bit back a grin when noticed how alarmed Dante looked at such close contact with his father. On a whim, Sonny disentangled one arm from Molly's vise-like grip and pulled his son into a hug, so that the three of them stood in one embrace in the middle of the hall. Dante stiffened but didn't pull back—_it's getting better, _Sonny realized.

Finally, Molly wriggled out of the embrace. Dante took the opportunity to take a step away from his father; Sonny suppressed a snort at Dante's put-upon expression. Before Sonny could mention it, Molly tugged at his hand to catch his attention. "Daddy Sonny, where's Sam?"

"She went to see Spinelli before he went into surgery," Dante said.

Molly's eyes widened fearfully. "Is he going to be okay?"

Dante hesitated. Sonny could see him struggling to choose between lying to Molly and frightening her with the truth. _She's so damn smart that it's hard to remember she's just a kid! _After a moment, Dante sighed. "Spinelli's pretty seriously injured, Molly. He has internal bleeding, so the doctors are performing the surgery to see what the problem is and what they can fix."

Sonny closed his eyes as a memory of Spinelli choking on blood rushed to the surface again. Despite his usual disdain for Spinelli, Sonny couldn't stop the wave of paternal fear for the computer hacker. _"_Just don't try to keep your mom safe when I'm yelling at her and calling her a slut!" Spinelli had said of his own childhood, and then, later, "Please don't hurt me…" _He's so close to being me it's scary. Only difference is, I got mad. He got scared._

"Is Patrick doing the surgery?" Sonny found himself asking.

Dante spared him a puzzled glance before answering, "No, Matt Hunter is, but he's just as good a surgeon as Patrick."

"Yeah," Sonny admitted after a moment. "Yeah, he is."

"Then Spinelli will be fine, right? I mean, Dr. Hunter's an amazing surgeon. Spinelli will be fine, right?" Molly asked tearfully.

"Come here, baby girl." Sonny waited to speak until Molly wrapped her arms around his waist again. "Listen, the doctors are doing the best they can with Spinelli and Kristina, and worrying about them isn't going to help anything. All you can do—any of us can do—is pray for them and love them right now. Okay?" When Molly whimpered, Sonny sighed and rubbed her back. "I know it's hard, sweetheart. I know."

"Molly?"

Ric's voice was uncharacteristically hesitant. Molly half-turned in Sonny's arms and whispered, "Daddy Ric?"

Once again, Ric paused before speaking. "I have to leave now."

"Leave—you mean go back to L.A.? No, Daddy, please, don't—" Molly flew into Ric's arms when he nodded. "But we need you here. _I_ need you here!"

"C'mon," Dante muttered in Sonny's ear. Sonny wavered for a moment before reluctantly following his son to give Molly some time alone with Ric.

Once they reached the end of the hallway, Sonny caught Dante by the arm to keep him from walking any further. "So how is Spinelli actually doing?"

Dante shrugged. "I told Molly everything I knew. Why do you care? I thought you hated the guy."

"No, no, not really, I—" Sonny stopped when Dante shot him a dubious look. "Fine, I'll admit I thought he was annoying as hell. He is annoying as hell, but that doesn't mean I want Spinelli dead! He's had a pretty rough time, y'know, and he needs help, not me getting on him."

Although Dante gave his father another curious glance, Sonny didn't elaborate. _It's not my story to tell. Spinelli will tell whoever needs to know about his past. It's not my job._

Despite Dante's questioning stare, Sonny stayed quiet. Finally, Dante stretched and sighed. "What happened to my mom and Lulu, anyway? I saw them when I came up here, but they disappeared."

"That's never good," Sonny muttered. "Olivia sneaking off?"

"I was more worried about what Lulu's planning. What, do you think my mom's more trouble that her?"

Sonny barely stifled a snort. "Dante, has your mother never told you any stories about what she was like as a kid in Bensonhurst? She was more trouble than I was, and I was running odd jobs for Joe Scully!"

"I find that hard to believe." Dante rolled his eyes. "Not that you were running odd jobs for a mobster, that she was more trouble that you. Were you already killing people then, or were you just cleaning up after Scully's messes?"

With a wry grin, Sonny chose to ignore Dante's last comment. "I'm no saint compared to your mother, that's very true, but at least I've never had sex in the back of a moving limo."

For a moment, Dante stared at his father in shock. Then horrified revulsion spread across his face. "I'm leaving," he growled before striding toward the stairs and out of sight. Regret instantly seeped through Sonny's veins—though he couldn't suppress the tiniest of wicked grins.

"Daddy Sonny, where's Dante going?"

"I think he's looking for his mom and Lulu," Sonny answered carefully while Molly twined her fingers with his. "Did Ric leave?"

"He said he had to." Molly sighed and buried her face in Sonny's shirt. "That's why I'm glad I have you, too. You never leave."

Gently, Sonny ran his fingers through Molly's hair. "I try not to. You want to go see your sister?"

"Can I?" Molly's head snapped up, and her eyes widened eagerly. "I didn't think the nurses would let me in there. They thought I would get in the way or cause trouble…"

"If you get scared, you tell me, and I'll get you out of there—Kristina doesn't need to get stressed right now. If you promise me you'll stay calm no matter what, then sure you can visit Kristina. You're her sister. She loves you. You're calm enough, y'know, that having you around might calm her down, and the calm she is, the easier the with-withdrawal will be."

Molly's eyes clouded. "I know," she whispered. "I was with her last time she went through it, remember? It was…awful," she admitted quietly. "I'd never been so scared, Daddy Sonny, not even when Morgan was—in the hospital." Shakily, she swallowed. "Kristina won't be as sick this time, though, right? I mean, the doctors can give her medicine so that she doesn't hurt as much."

"I don't know, sweetheart. I really don't. All I know is that we can help Kristina by being there for her. She'll get better faster if she knows we're there with her no matter what. I promise."

Slowly, Molly nodded. "Okay," she murmured, tightening her grip on Sonny's hand, "let's go take care of Krissy. She'll get clean. She'll get better. She has to."

* * *

Part Two: Dante

He couldn't believe Sonny said that. He couldn't even begin to process it. Seeing his mom with Johnny was bad enough—a guy his age, _ew_—but hearing that Olivia _did it_ in the back of a moving limo?

_Sonny might be lying_, Dante tried to convince himself. _He makes his living off of lies…_ Still, Dante couldn't shake the feeling that this one awful, disturbing time, Sonny was telling the truth. _Does this guy enjoy torturing me or something? Why did he have to tell—_

"Mr. Falconeri!" For the second time that night, Dante walked right into Epiphany. The nurse once again grabbed him by the arm and set him upright. "Would you watch where you're going? Honestly, you are going to kill me one of these days. What's your problem now?"

Dante pulled a face. "Believe me, Nurse Johnson, you don't want to know."  
Epiphany rolled her eyes. "Oh, I believe you. What are you doing all the way down here?"

"Um…" Dante ran his hands through his hair thoughtfully. "I was just, um, I was looking for my mother and my girlfriend."

"You're lucky. They just passed through here. Headed toward the main offices."

_Main offices…why would they…oh! _"Thanks," Dante said before striding off down the hall. Epiphany shook her head as she watched him go and then retreated to the safety of the nurses' station, away from any chance of being run over by Dante Falconeri again.

The chapel hadn't changed much in the week since Dante last saw it; he was almost surprised that the two votive candles he'd left burning then weren't still lit. He noticed the two heads, light and dark, bent together in a pew in the back of the room, but he ignored them at first and pulled out his lighter instead. Carefully, he lit three candles one after another. _God, why am I back here again? Maybe I should just rent a room at the hospital or something. What is it about my family that attracts danger?—other than Sonny, I mean, and he hasn't been responsible for any of our problems lately! Stone, keep an eye on Michael. Morgan and Kristina got hurt. I don't want anything to happen to my other brother, okay?_

"Why three?"

Dante jumped, then relaxed when Lulu slipped her arms around him from behind. "Why three candles? One's for Kristina, one's for Spinelli, and one's for Uncle Stone. One's always for Uncle Stone. He helped Morgan before." He twisted around kiss Lulu and then look her in the eye. "What're you doing here? Where are the kids?"

"I left them at home," Lulu drawled. "Where do you think the kids are? Your mom's holding Joss right now, and Morgan and Michael are down in the cafeteria, eating everything they lay eyes on. We couldn't stand not knowing what was going on, so we went to the police station to ask, and they directed us to the hospital to wait. I thought they were being pessimistic at first." Lulu shook her head. "Turns out they were just being realistic!"

"Yeah, well, it shouldn't have come to this." Dante wrapped his arms around Lulu and held her as close as he could. "I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad she is, too. I got to meet your little roommate!" Olivia called from the pew in the back of the room. Dante cursed inwardly. _What is it with moms and ruining the moment?_ "She's a real sweetheart. Aren't you, Joss?"

"Yeah, she is," Dante conceded, though he refused to meet his mother's eye when he sat down beside her. _I will not think about what Sonny said about Mom and limos. I will not. I will not!_

Olivia raised an eyebrow at Dante and then swatted him in the arm. "Hey, you. Are you trying to ignore your mother?"

Dante winced and forced himself to make eye contact with her. "No, Ma, I'm not. I just, um…Sonny was telling some old Bensonhurst stories…"

Instantly, Olivia's eyes flashed. "Which ones?" When Dante flushed but didn't reply, Olivia swatted him again and handed Jossilyn off to Lulu. "Dante Angelo Falconeri, you better tell me what's going on—"

Suddenly, Olivia paled. Dante frowned when she wrapped one arm around her stomach. "You okay, Ma? You sick?" When Olivia didn't reply, Dante reached out and took her hand—only to drop it again when his fingers hit the cool metal of a gold band on her fourth finger. "Ma, what's that?"

In the background, Lulu edged nervously toward the door. Dante turned and shot her a dark look, but before he could tell her to _get back over here!,_ his mother spoke quietly. "Johnny and I got married."

"What?"

"John and I got married. I'm married." When Dante's mind still didn't register it, Olivia put her hands on her hips and groaned. "Is it really that hard to understand?"

"You married John Zacchara and didn't tell me?" Olivia nodded, and Dante's head exploded. "Are you serious? He's my age! He's a mobster! What did you do, sneak out of town? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't I tell you? Three reasons. One, it was a very spur-of-the-moment thing. We'd talked about marriage, but when John finally proposed, we decided, why wait forever? Two, I knew you'd react like this, and I don't have to take this from you! I waited until you were an adult to date again because I didn't want you going through what Sonny did when he was a kid. I didn't want you to have to deal with boyfriend after boyfriend trooping through the house or with whatever jerks they might be. I wanted to protect you! Now I'm happy, Dante! I'm in love, in _real_ love for the first time in a very long time! Would it kill you to be happy for me?"

Slowly, Dante nodded, not in acceptance, yet, but at least surrender. Then he realized something and frowned. "What's the third reason?"

Dante's mother didn't look him in the eye for a moment. Instead, her arms wrapped around her stomach again. Something clicked in the back of Dante's mind, but still, he wasn't ready for Olivia's revelation.

"Well, wait about…eight months now, and you'll see." Olivia looked up and smiled almost shyly—not any way Dante had ever seen his mother smile. "I'm pregnant, Dante. You're going to be a big brother."

At first, Dante couldn't move. Then adrenaline rushed through him, and all he could do was move. He jumped to his feet, away from his mother's almost pleading expression, and tore out into the hallway.

"Dante!"

"Dante! Hey! HEY!" Lulu grabbed Dante's wrist. He shook her off and kept moving—

_SMACK._

"I said HEY!"

Dante froze and reached one hand up to feel his stinging face. Lulu swayed with the force of her own slap for a moment before regaining her balance and catching Dante's wrist in a vice-like grip again. "Listen to me! All Olivia wants is for you to be happy for her! She's going to have a baby, Dante! A baby! Your baby brother or sister! You should be happy for her!"

In Lulu's arms, baby Jossilyn whimpered. The sound grounded Dante just enough so that he bit back a vicious reply and instead snapped, "Give me a minute, Lulu."

"She's your mother, Dante!" Lulu said fiercely. "Can't you just—"

"I said _give me a minute_!" With a cry, Dante jerked his wrist away from Lulu's grasp and took the stairs three at a time, away from Lulu's rage, Jossilyn's tears, and his mother's stinging betrayal.

By the time he reached the pediatric ICU, Dante shook with shame, not rage. _I should go talk to Ma…but what can I say? I'm not—I'm not happy for her! I'm worried about her! _With a groan, Dante wandered over to Kristina's room. He hesitated, then knocked on the door and pushed it open. "Kristina?"

"She's sleeping," Alexis called softly. When Dante backed out again, the lawyer shook her head and motioned him in. "She asked for you earlier."

"Really? Wow. Where's—" Dante stopped mid-sentence and grinned. "Never mind, I found them." Sonny lay across two chairs with Molly on his lap. Both of them were fast asleep and snoring.

"Come here," Alexis said quietly. Dante blinked in surprise at the request. Gingerly, he sat on the edge of Kristina's bed beside Alexis's chair. Alexis smiled wanly and patted his knee. "Thank you so much for saving Kristina. I don't know what I would have done without her."

"I don't know what I would do without her, either." Beside Dante, Kristina shivered in her sleep. Instinctively, Dante rubbed her cold fingers between his. The shaking ceased; Dante smiled softly and kissed Kristina's knuckles. "That's better," he whispered. "Sweet dreams, little sis."

When he glanced back at Alexis, the lawyer watched him with an unreadable expression. "You'd think you'd been around for her whole life instead of for a few months. It's a good thing," Alexis noted. "You're a natural big brother."

Alexis's words brought memories of his fight with Olivia to the surface, and Dante shook his head. "Not really. I'm not that good at all."

"What makes you think that?"

At first, Dante considered ignoring the question. Then he looked up at Alexis and saw only curiosity and a hint of worry in her eyes. It was the same expression his mother wore when she thought he was in trouble or hurt, and it was enough for him to speak. "I'm telling you this thinking that you won't spread it all over town, right? Don't break my trust here. It's really not my secret to tell."

"Well, that's reassuring," Alexis mumbled. "What's wrong?"

"My mom," Dante said quietly, "married Johnny Zacchara, and now she's pregnant. She just told me, and I…I flipped out. I…I yelled at her." Dante looked down at Kristina's sleeping form and squeezed her hand as tightly as he dared in a desperate attempt to block out the memory. "I was so angry with her—still am, but—I have all kinds of reasons to be mad, okay? It's—it's John Zacchara! Not only is he a mobster, but he's also just a few years older than me! It kind of freaks me out. I'm not going to lie about that."

Alexis's eyebrows shot up. "That's…interesting. Why on earth did she tell you now?"

"Because I asked about her ring. She didn't mean to." Dante rubbed his forehead tiredly. "I guess…what bothers me the most…I'm going to sound like a bratty little kid, I'm going to warn you."

The lawyer waved a hand at him. "I have three daughters. I'll be the judge of what's bratty."

"Well, what bothered me most, when Mom told me everything, is that she's going to have a baby. How screwed up is that?" Dante shook his head. "When I was a kid, all I ever asked for at Christmas was a baby brother. Well—a baseball bat, Yankees tickets, and a baby brother," he admitted with a grin. "Even after I figured out that Mom couldn't just go buy me a brother, I still asked for one. It kind of became a tradition. Now, I'm going to be a big brother—again! I just got two brothers and a sister—and a little cousin who's as good as my little sister—and now Mom's getting me what I've always asked her for, and I yelled at her for it. What does that make me?"

"It makes you someone who's always had his mother around and who doesn't want to lose her. I deal with sibling rivalries all the time at my house. It's natural for you to be jealous!"

"But it's not the kid's fault!"

"No, it's not. You're exactly right, and you just have to keep reminding yourself of that." Alexis leaned forward and squeezed Dante's shoulder. "Listen. If I thought you weren't fit to be a brother, then I wouldn't let you anywhere near my daughters. Where are you? In Kristina's hospital room, holding her hand."

A sudden pressure on his hand made Dante jump. Kristina shakily opened her eyes and squeezed Dante's hand again. "You're good," she whispered. "You saved me. You always save me."

Beside Dante, Alexis smiled. "I rest my case."

* * *

Things I've learned while writing this chapter:

1. You know a forum's slow when three people in the chat room means it's "hopping."

2. I have mice in my walls.

3. I can't spell!


	9. I Remember That State of Mind

I'm beginning this chapter a little later than normal today—I was called into work at the daycare and got to dump buckets of water on kids' heads. Oh, Water Day, I love you!

P.S. Happy July, everyone! It's been nearly a year since I began this series. Can you believe it?

* * *

When Sonny awoke, light streamed through the hospital room's windows. For a moment, he struggled to remember his dream…

"_It's Crystal, isn't it? I understand."_

_Stone shot Sonny a dark look. "Sonny, she's dead!"_

"_I know, and I'm sorry!"_

"_I—"_

"_But nobody made her put that needle in her arm!" Sonny snapped._

_Stone swallowed. "But why? Didn't she realize what that stuff was doing to her?" When Sonny didn't reply at first, Stone dropped the box he was holding and gestured helplessly. "Look, Sonny, you remember her! Before?" _

_Reluctantly, Sonny nodded. "Yeah. She was beautiful." _

"_Yeah!" Stone cried. "And she was funny, and she was…" he shook his head, "sweet, and different."_

"_That's right," Sonny admitted quietly._

"_So why'd she start that stuff?" Stone's voice cracked, and he took a deep breath before continuing. "She first came here, she wasn't like that, Sonny."_

"_You—you just—" Sonny struggled to think of a way to explain it to Stone, a way to make Stone understand that there were some things you just couldn't keep from happening. "You didn't see it. I knew from day one, no matter how many chances I gave her, she was going to screw up."_

_Stone squinted at Sonny. "Can you always tell?"_

_Sonny didn't hesitate. "I got a pretty good eye."_

"Not good enough," Sonny whispered to himself. "Goddamn, Stone, why didn't you tell me before? She's not just some druggie off the streets. She's my daughter! Krissy's my _daughter_."

A rap at the door pulled Sonny back to the present. Reluctantly, he sat up in the hard hospital chair and stretched. In his arms, Molly groaned sleepily. "Five more minutes, Mom," she mumbled before burying her face in Sonny's neck again. Sonny laughed and nearly corrected her, then shrugged and carefully stood up with Molly in his arms.

"Come in!"

Robin poked her head around the door. "Is Kristina still sleeping?"

Sonny glanced over at Kristina's bed and chuckled again. "Either that or Sam and Alexis smothered her." The two women lay in a heap beside Kristina; Sam's arms wrapped around Kristina so tightly that Sonny was surprised he daughter could still breathe.

When Robin didn't giggle the way she usually would, Sonny frowned and took a good look at her. To his shock, her face was red and puffy, as if she'd been crying for some time. "Hey. Hey! What's wrong, Robin?"

Robin rubbed her face and sighed. "I need to discuss some test results with Kristina. You and Alexis should probably be in the room for this, but Molly should probably leave."

"Leave where?" Molly raised her head and sniffed sleepily. "What's going on? Why do I have to leave? Is Kristina okay?"

"I just need to talk to Kristina about a few things, Molly. She can share it with you later, but for now you need to give me some time alone with your mom and sister and Sonny, all right?"

"But I—"

"She's right, Molly." Sam dragged herself out of bed and wrapped an arm around Molly's shoulders. "I'm sure Kristina will tell us everything later, but right now we need to give her some space. I know Morgan was here with Dante and Lulu earlier. How about we go look for him?"

Molly's eyes widened pleadingly. "Can we check on Spinelli, too?"

"I don't know if he's awake yet, but we can try!"

Molly grinned. "Great." She ran to Kristina's side and kissed her sister's cheek before scampering out the door after Sam. "Tell me everything later, Kristina, please?"

"Tell…huh…what?" By the time Kristina forced her eyes open and sat up, Molly and Sam were gone. Kristina shivered and rubbed her arms. "What's going on?"

With a sigh, Sonny sat beside Kristina and pulled her into his arms. "Robin's here to talk to you."

Slowly, Alexis pulled herself upright. "Talk to Kristina about what, exactly?"

The panic in Alexis's voice was obvious to both Sonny and Robin. Robin winced and gingerly closed the door. "Your test results are back, Kristina."

"Test results for what?" Alexis glanced between Kristina and Robin in confusion. Sonny closed his eyes. _Do I want to hear this?_

"Because Kristina was using heroin, which is injected, she's at a high risk for contracting certain infections common to addicts. It's hospital policy to run a blood scan as soon as someone who's used drugs like heroin enters the hospital." Robin reached out and gently squeezed Kristina's hand before continuing. "Your blood was tested for what you would call sexually transmitted diseases in health class: hepatitis B, hepatitis C…and, what we were most concerned about…HIV."

Instantly, Sonny tightened his grip on Kristina. _No! I won't lose her, dammit! I won't lose my daughter the way I lost my brother! Not like Stone! Never! _The walls started to close in, but then Kristina shuddered and Alexis started to wheeze, and Sonny realized he had no time to panic. "Shh," he murmured in Kristina's ear; then, to Alexis, "Calm down. Breathe. Slower. There you go. That's better. Just keep breathing."

After a moment, Kristina stiffened in Sonny's arms. He didn't have to look down at her to know she was glaring at Robin. "So? Am I…I mean, do I…am I HIV-positive?"

Slowly, Robin shook her head. "Your first test came back completely negative. However, I am going to have you come back in a few months and be tested again."

"Again? Why? You just said she was negative." Alexis's eyes narrowed. "She's going to stay clean, aren't you, Kristina? Why have her tested again?"

"Because if she's just picked it up, Alexis, she might not test positive yet. Her system might not have built up antibodies against the virus yet, and they test for the antibodies. Kristina could have HIV and feel fine for months, and we'd only find out she was HIV-positive once she started to feel sick. By then, it might…well, we're not going to wait that long, 'cause you're getting tested again in a few months, baby girl, just the way Robin said." Sonny squeezed Kristina tighter and then noticed Alexis's incredulous stare. "What, Alexis? My best friend died of AIDS. I know some stuff about it!"

"Is that why he died? Because you didn't get him tested again?"

Kristina's question made Sonny flinch. "I don't know, but that's definitely part of it. If we'd—we'd known enough to get Stone tested twice, if we'd caught it early, then yeah, maybe he would still be—still be here. I mean, look at Robin. We still got her, thank God, right? She's still here."

"I don't want you to worry too much, any of you. I know that's a lot to ask," Robin said quietly, "but worrying isn't going to change whether or not Kristina's HIV-positive. I have your rehab schedule here, Kristina, and I'm going to set you up with a psychiatrist who will help you, too. Just focus on getting clean and then enjoy your life! Go shopping with Molly, hang out with Michael, get your dad to cook for you. He's an amazing chef." Robin half-smiled and pressed something into Kristina's hand. "Here's my phone number. If you need anything or have any questions, call me, day or night. I'm always right here."

When Kristina nodded numbly, Robin stood up. "Well, I'd better—"

"Wait!" Kristina hesitated; Robin's brow furrowed. Finally, Kristina asked tearfully, "Can I still baby-sit Emma? I swear, I never did anything around her. I would never hurt Emma—"

With a sad smile, Robin sat again and pulled Kristina into her arms. "Of course you can still baby-sit Emma. We might not leave you alone with her at first, but I wouldn't think of keeping you away from her. She loves her Kristina. You're her favorite sitter."

"Okay," Kristina whispered. Robin hugged her one last time and slipped out the door.

For a long minute, Alexis, Kristina, and Sonny sat in stunned silence. Then Kristina twisted in Sonny's arms to look her father in the face. "Daddy, I don't want to die."

As soon as she finished speaking, Kristina leaned against Sonny and burst into tears. "I hurt everywhere and I didn't think, I didn't think it would be like this! All I wanted was to—was to—I just, I miss Kiefer, and I love him, even though he hurt me, but I hate him too, and then I hate myself for hating him, and I hate Mom for hitting him and I hate Mr. Bauer for making Kiefer like that in the first place, and then I get so confused. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted things to be easy and make sense again, but things have never made sense for me! Half the time when I was little I didn't know who my d-dad was and then when I did I realized that everyone else hated y-you and I didn't know if I was supposed to hate you, too—and Michael and Morgan always talked about the island and your vacations and I wanted to go with them but I thought you'd get mad if I asked!

"Then Michael got shot and I thought he was going to die and he's one of my only friends! Mom was always at work, and I didn't want to tell her about how I missed Michael because I knew she didn't like him because he was around you—"

"Kristina!" Alexis gasped. "You can always tell me how you feel, sweetheart, I'd never get mad at you for your feelings!"

"But I didn't know that!" Kristina trembled in Sonny's arms. "I didn't know that, Mom! You never told me that! I couldn't tell Dad because he was too worried about Michael already! I didn't want him to worry about me! All I really wanted to do was forget everything! I had to try something," she whispered frantically.

"I never even thought shooting up would hurt me! I was smart in the beginning. I sterilized the needles and bought everything from someone I thought was cool 'cause his family was rich. It worked really well at first, too, because I did forget! I forgot so much, and it felt perfect because then I didn't have to worry about anything! Then it wasn't enough, and I needed more, but I had to have more money, so I…got money, but…not how I should have."

Sonny's eyes darkened—_Not how you should have? What the hell does that mean?_—but Kristina talked over his questions. "Then Michael woke up, and things got worse instead of better. Claudia died, and there was the trial, and Kiefer h-hit me, and then he died! I never wanted him to die, not like that—and Mom, I got so scared they were going to take you away! I can't take care of Molly on my own, I can't! She takes care of me, not the other way around!

"Then I wanted to stop, and I couldn't." Kristina shuddered again and leaned her fevered forehead against Sonny's neck. "I remembered the time Molly made me quit and how much it hurt. I'd never been that sick in my life. It's like your insides are being ripped out. It's not as bad, this time, but…it's almost worse. This time I almost…if Spinelli never wakes up, it's my fault. He was trying to save me. He was trying to save—I don't want—I'd rather I die and he live! He doesn't deserve to die, Dad, he doesn't!"

"Look at me, Kristina!" Sonny caught Kristina's chin in his hand and forced her to look him in the eye. "_Neither do you_."

He tried to say more, but Sonny soon realized that he couldn't speak around the lump in his throat. Instead, he pulled Kristina against his chest again, where she cried herself to sleep.

Some hours later, another knock at the door jolted Sonny out of his uneasy doze. Before he could call "Come in!" or, more likely, "Go away!," Dante poked his head inside. "She doing okay?" he mouthed at his father.

Sonny studied Kristina for a moment before answering. His daughter's face was still tearstained, and she had circles like bruises under her eyes. She wore a peaceful expression, though, as if she'd finally escaped the nightmares that haunted her earlier. Finally, Sonny looked up at Dante and nodded once.

Dante sighed audibly. "Good, I—"

"Kristina! Kristina!"

"Shh," Dante scolded Molly as she sprinted into the room. "She's asleep—"

"I don't care," Molly panted. "Spinelli's awake!"


	10. If I Don't Then No One Will

"You're not out of the woods yet," Robin warned Kristina as she helped the girl pack her duffel bag. "You need to take it easy and go to all your therapy sessions while we wait for your next test results to come back."

"But?"

"But at this point there's no reason to think you won't live a long, healthy life. Just don't take any more unnecessary risks, all right?"

"Yeah, listen to Robin, Krissy."

"Shut up, Michael!"

"Whoa, whoa." Dante slipped between his two siblings before Kristina could dig her talon-like nails into Michael's smirking face. "Everybody calm down. I don't need another one of you in the hospital."

Kristina flopped back onto her hospital bed with a huff, and Michael chuckled. "Whatever you say, Dante."

"I say you need to get the car, man. Lulu just texted me—if we don't get home in fifteen minutes, she's cooking dinner."

Instantly, Michael launched out of the room, nearly knocking over Epiphany in the process. The nurse raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head when he ran off without a word. "Do I want to know what you're doing, Mr. Falconeri?"

"What kind of trouble is my son getting into this time? Dante Angelo Falconeri—"

Dante caught Robin by the back of her shirt. "Distract Ma for me!" he hissed before he gently shoved the doctor into his mother's path and closed the door behind him.

When he turned to face his sister again, Kristina sat at the edge of the bed with her legs swinging just above the floor. She looked impossibly tiny and delicate; Dante repressed the urge to go down to the PCPD and mutilate Kristina's surviving captors. _You're not Sonny. You let the law do its job. _"Mothers," he grumbled instead. "Can't live with 'em, can't keep 'em out of your business." Kristina's eyes didn't meet Dante's. With a frown, he sat beside her on the bed. "You okay?"

Slowly, Kristina shrugged. "What if I am?" she whispered finally. "You know what I mean. What if I'm HIV positive? What if I get AIDS?" Dante tried to cut in, but Kristina took a deep breath and continued, "What about the people I dealt with? What if I gave them AIDS? What if I'm the reason someone dies? Spinelli's already had two surgeries! I know he's getting better," Kristina choked out, "but he got shot protecting me! He almost died protecting me! How am I going to pay him back? By dying anyway?"

_Oh, man. _"We're not going to know that for a while, Kris. That's why you're getting tested again—"

"And what if I test positive?"

Dante bit back a groan. "Then you do, and we get you all the medicines you need so you can live as long and as happy as you get, right? I can't promise you anything other than—other than that those guys who messed with you and Spinelli are going to prison for as long as I can get 'em there. You're not going to have to be scared of them anymore. I'll take care of it."

Kristina's eyes darkened. "That's what you said before Michael went to prison."

As much as he wanted to, Dante couldn't argue with that logic. "You're right. It is. I made a stupid mistake that Michael paid for, but I learned from it. I promise nothing like that will ever happen again."

"It had better not." With a petulant sigh, Kristina fell back onto the mattress again. "When's my mom getting here?"

"Well—"

"Thank you so much for the linguini."

"It was nothing! It really was nothing, Alexis. Just get my son out here, would you?"

Dante grimaced when Alexis opened the door and jerked her head at him. "There's your mom, Kristina. C'mere." Before Kristina could protest, he pulled her into a hug. After one stiff moment, she relaxed and held on. "You're going to be fine. I swear. I'll see you later, okay?"

"'Kay," she murmured.

"Kristina!" Alexis scolded. "You call this packing?"

The brother and sister broke apart with rueful grins. "Mothers," Kristina mouthed at Dante. He rolled his eyes and winked when his own mother called his name again. "Can't live with 'em."

"Mom, stop it! Stop messing up my clothes! Robin had them in there perfectly—"

Dante shut the door on Alexis and Kristina's squabble with a sigh of relief. Olivia tried to give him a reproachful look, but it melted into relief when her son pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Ma," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to yell. You just scared me. I mean, Johnny Zacchara—"

"You didn't see this coming?" Olivia smacked Dante's arm when he shook his head bewilderedly. "Honestly, Dante, who was the one making all kinds of snotty comments about me taking a guy his age?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think you two were planning on eloping—"

"_It's not the kid's fault!"_

_"No, it's not…you just have to keep reminding yourself of that."_

Slowly, Dante let out the breath he'd been unconsciously holding. _Focus on the positive. Right. Positive. _"I'm really going to be a brother?"  
For a moment, Dante's mother gazed at him, wide-eyed. Then a pleased grin spread over her face. "Yes, you are. That okay with you?"

"Dante! Morgan just called! He says Lulu put a pizza in the oven!"

"Dante! Are you going down the elevator with us?"

"If he is, he'd better hurry!"

Michael, Molly, and Kristina's bellows made both Falconeris jump. Olivia rolled her eyes at Dante's panicked expression. "I'll get back to you on that one, Mom!"

"HURRY UP!"

"I'M COMING! CALM DOWN! I got to go," Dante apologized. "I'll bring Lulu and the kids to see you tomorrow, all right?"

"Sure it's all right! John and I are going to eat around six. It'll be a good chance for you to get used to him."

Dante swallowed his initial sarcastic retort and forced a smile. "Sounds great. Like a family. HEY, MICHAEL! KRISTINA! MOLLY! WAIT UP!"

He barely slid into the elevator before the doors closed and he and his siblings rode out of General Hospital together.

* * *

Alternate Ending from Sonny's POV

Spinelli was showing Sonny something about his new laptop. That much Sonny understood. The rest was typical Freaky Boy gibberish.

It wasn't as bad as he had expected. Maybe it was even tolerable. He still wouldn't want to live with the computer hacker, or anywhere remotely near him, the way Jason and Sam did, but maybe Sonny could stand him sometimes. As Jason had pointed out, Spinelli did take a bullet for Kristina. Unfortunately, Sonny owed him one, and part of his payment was listening to him jabber on about CPU and RAM, whatever the hell they were. _Sounds like the meds they had Stone on, maybe the ones they'll have Krissy on—no, dammit, they won't have her on them because she won't get sick!_

_ The one thing I can't buy out or protect her from…_

"Uh…Mister Sir?"

Sonny jumped when Spinelli gingerly prodded him in the arm. The computer hacker gestured toward the doorway with a grin; Sonny followed his gaze to see Kristina, hospital-gown-free, dancing with excitement. "They're letting me go!"

"Hey! How about that?" Sonny swept Kristina right off her feet into a hug. "You feel good enough to go dancing?"

Kristina's eyes lit up. "You mean it?"

"Dancing, shopping, eating, your choice! What'll it be?"

Before Kristina could do more than giggle excitedly, Alexis cleared her throat. "Right now, missy, you are going home and resting the way Dr. Scorpio-Drake asked you to, remember?"

"Oh, Mom! Dad, can't you—"

"No," Sonny said sternly. When Kristina's face fell, he sighed and shook his head. "You listen to your mother and to Robin, all right? I'll make it up to you. I promise."

With a sigh, Kristina perched on the edge of Spinelli's hospital bed. "People have been making me a lot of promises lately. It'll be a miracle if they keep any of them."

"C'mon, sweetheart, don't be like that! When have I—" Sonny's voice trailed off when everyone in the room gave him looks that clearly said _all the time_. "I'll make it up to you, Kristina. I swear. All the time. I haven't spent enough time around you. I've missed out on too much. I'm not going to let myself keep doing that, right? I'm not." When he caught sight of Molly sitting cross-legged beside Spinelli, Sonny added, "You too. Whatever you want to do, we'll do together."

Molly looked at her mother contemplatively. Then a wicked grin spread over her face. "Ice cream _every day_ at Kelly's."

"Every day!" Sonny shook his head. "I don't know if I can stand seeing Mike that much."

"Oh, come on, Daddy Sonny! He's your dad! It'd be perfect bonding time for all of us. Besides," Molly widened her eyes pleadingly, "you said anything…"

Alexis snorted and shook her keys at Sonny. "That's what you get for making promises! Let's go, girls. Say goodbye to your father and Spinelli."

As Molly wrapped her arms around Sonny's neck in a near stranglehold, Kristina leaned her head against Spinelli's shoulder. "You'll be fine, won't you?"

"Of course the Jackal will recover, Goddess-in-Training." Spinelli glanced nervously at Sonny. The mob boss nearly pushed the computer hacker away from his daughter before he met Jason's steely blue gaze and swallowed his words. "You should worry about your own health, young one."

Molly finally relinquished her grip on Sonny and snickered. "You sound like a Jedi, Damian!"

"But I am!" Spinelli's green eyes widened in protest. "Did the Half-Pint Hacker's shadow not know—"

"I'm gettin' out of here," Sonny mumbled as he edged out of the room. "Too much freaky stuff for me." Spinelli and Molly caught his dimples, though. So did Jason, who relaxed and nodded his head ever so slightly.

"Dad—"

Kristina's arms wrapped around Sonny again. He held his daughter close for a moment before kissing her forehead. "You'll be just fine, baby girl. You'll be just fine."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

_The same way Stone was fine._

_"Can you always tell?" _Stone asked Sonny again. Sonny sighed and shook his head as he rode down the elevator to the parking garage.

_Sometimes, man, I can't tell at all._

* * *

Thanks to all those who have read and reviewed this story! I hope you will follow me to the sequel. Special thanks to the holdovers from Quality (rosie44, SheWhoFliesWithDragons, softballgal13, and bellagh6969) and the new reviewers (suerum—a fellow Jaspin lover!—amblue36, flutterby-by, HHSprincess, robinscorpiofan, mishers321, SomethingSpecial727, KatieDean0343, and JasonCourtneyFan17), as well as those who added this to their favorites and put it on story alert.

_To all the Nates in my life, especially my brother, even though he got that MCR song with all the "na na na"-ing stuck in my head. _

* * *

**The following preview has been approved for ALL AUDIENCES by the author, because I say so.**

"How much ice cream can I get?" Molly demanded. Sonny and Mike both threw their heads back and laughed.

"You're just like Sonny, huh? You want your money's worth!" Mike chortled.

"More than my money's worth," Sonny corrected with a smirk. "How much ice cream do you want, princess?"

When Molly's eyes twinkled impishly, Sonny knew he was in trouble. Kristina knew, too; she elbowed him teasingly and winked as she carried her three scoops of ice cream to their table. Sonny knew better than to question whether his daughter could eat all of the frozen treat. He knew from experience that despite her dainty figure, Kristina ate more than he did. It seemed Molly would follow in her sister's shoes.

Somehow, Sonny got the job of carrying both his root beer float and Molly's hot fudge sundae back to the table. "Kids," Mike laughed again.

Sonny did his best to glare at his father while still keeping a tight grip on the two bowls. "That why you didn't stick around?"

"Dad, hurry up!"

Before Mike could retort, Sonny spun around to tell Kristina to be patient—and ran straight into a dark-haired figure who instantly gasped his name.

"Sonny!"

* * *

Why is this final chapter so late? Lots of reasons, not all of them very good. If you're intensely curious, as I said before, PM me. I hope you enjoyed this story! The third part of this five-part series, entitled "Perfect," will be up A.S.A.P.

Cheers!

Icey.

P.S. Cheers to Garin Wolf. I can't believe how many Quartermaines I've been seeing lately!


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